Reading: Kevin Kruse “The Benefits and Drawbacks of e-Learning”
http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art1_3.htm

Based on the reading, the advantages of e-Learning for both trainers/organisations and learners include:

• Reduced costs
• Reduced learning times
• Increased retention and application to the job
  
• Consistent delivery
• Expert knowledge is shared and captured
• Proof of completion and certification
• On-demand avalability
• Self-pacing
• Intereactivity
• Confidence

The disadvantages include:

• Up-front investment
• Technology issues
• Inappropriate content
• Cultural acceptance
• Portability
• Reduced social and cultural interaction

How could it be useful in the subject? It is useful as it allows us to gather bookmarks of web resources that are relevant to the subject and allows us to share these resources with our peers.

In the subject, we set up an account at http://del.icio.us and what this site allows us to do is store our bookmarks online, which means that we can access this list anywhere we want to. Furthermore, the use of tags allows us to manage our bookmarks, grouping them in categories (for example, the bookmarks relevant to the subject have all been tagged with elexp). We are also able to set up networks that allow us to share our bookmarks as well as view bookmarks of other users. So far in my network, I have included peers from the class. The site also allows us to view the most popular bookmarks of users from around the world.

It was interesting to find information on what del.icio.us can be used for -

RESEARCH – Writing an article? Researching an industry? Slaving away on your dissertation? Use del.icio.us to keep track of all the source materials and commentary that you find online.
WISHLIST – Go to any commerce site, find what you like, save it to del.icio.us and tag it as wishlist. Then you can tell people to check out your wishlist bookmarks by giving them a link to http://del.icio.us/dinht/wishlist .
PODCAST – Want to hear some great podcasts? Visit the mp3+podcast tag combination and start listening. Are you a podcaster? Start posting your mp3 files to del.icio.us and we will create an RSS feed for you.
VACATION – Planning a trip? Save links to hotels, activities, and transportation and use tags like “travel”, “vacation”, and “to-visit”. Collaborate with friends and family by using the “for:username” tag.
LINKLOG – Save bookmarks to interesting websites and add a bit of commentary to create a lightweight linklog. Then, use linkrolls or the daily blog posting feature to include your del.icio.us bookmarks on your blog or website.
COOKBOOK – Whenever you find a great recipe on a website, save it to del.icio.us. Tag it with the recipe’s ingredients or style of cooking, and then when you’re wondering what to make for dinner, you can use your saved bookmarks to help you remember the perfect recipe.
COLLABORATION – Friends, coworkers, and other groups can use a shared account, special tag, or their del.icio.us networks to collect and organize bookmarks that are relevant — and useful — to the entire group.

(http://del.icio.us/about/)
My bookmarks can be found at http://del.icio.us/dinht

What is Aggregation? Aggregation allows users to subscribe to websites that are continually updated. As aggregators are a software application it allows users to store these subscriptions on a personal page which can be accessed whenever it is needed.

What is RSS? Really Simple Syndication – refers to the coding that enables you to subscribe to web pages (or web feeds). This code allows websites that are stored in an aggregator to be automatically updated. To subscribe to a website users need to find the RSS link which is usually represented by this symbol or by this logo .

How can these be used in this subject? Aggregating all the web pages you read regularly, or subscribing to online journals or magazines enables you to save time constantly checking if a web page has been updated.

In the subject, we set up an aggregator at netvibes.com. Getting started I subscribed to RSS feeds available from the Sydney Morning Herald Website. I also subscribed to the eLearning Magazine feed. I also connected my Hotmail account to my aggregator and also installed the Facebook and del.icio.us application.

What is an e-Newsletter? Similar to an e-Zine, an e-Newsletter is a newsletter delivered in an electronic form. These would differ from e-Zines as their content woud be much less. Magazines tend to cover much more material than a newsletter would. Newsletters generally just update readers on current issues whereas magazines, as well as covering current issues, may also address reader’s opinions, produce polls, promote things and so on.

How do you judge their relevance? With any publication, judging relevance will be based on the publisher and their credibility, whether they are an authoritative body or just someone with a hobby interest in the subject (generally these people are bias in their opinion). Also looking at the date of publication and perhaps the sources they cite.

Where do you start searching? Start by using a search engine.

How do you subscribe? Some e-Zines and e-Newsletters can be subscribed to via online registrations in which users will have the material delivered to their email. This can be available free of charge or may come at a cost (for example, the Learning Circuits e-Zine, produced by the ASTD, can be subscribed to at cost, however it provides subscribers with a bi-weekly opt-in email newsletter, LC Express, sends news, teasers, and links). Also e-Zines and e-Newsletters can be trasmitted via an RSS Feed such as the e-Learning Magazine which is published on the site http://elearningmag.org.

VIDEO – The medium of delivering information created from the recording of real events to be processed simultaneously by a learner’s eyes and ears. Compare to audio, text, graphics, and animation.

ONLINE QUIZZES

EMAIL - Short for electronic mail. The process of one user employing a computer to send a text message to an electronic mailbox to be retrieved and viewed by another user. Also, the message itself.

CHAT – Text-based group communication on the Internet. Multiple users can type their questions and answers for everyone to see. This form of group communication occurs in real-time.

DISCUSSION FORUMS - also know as a Bulletin Board System (BBS). The computer equivalent of a public note board, messages can be posted to a BBS for viewing by other users and other computers. A BBS is often called a threaded discussion.

The other components of e-Learning on the list included:

Synchronous activities – A training program in which the student and instructor participate at the same time. For example, an instructor-led chat session is a form of synchronous training. Common examples today include the use of products from Centra, Interwise, or others that enable web-casts of live events.

Asynchronous activities – A learning program that does not require the student and instructor to participate at the same time. Typically self-paced, online tutorials.

Web conferencing – A meeting of participants from disparate geographic locations that’s held in a virtual environment on the World Wide Web, with communication taking place via text, audio, video, or a combination of those methods. (http://www.learningcircuits.org/glossary)

Interactive TV – Any program feature that requires the learner to do something. Should help to maintain learner interest, provide a means of practice and reinforcement.

Simulations – A mode of instruction that relies on a representation in realistic form of the relevant aspects of a device, process, or situation.

Multi-user games

Virtual worlds – A meeting place on the Internet for people who share common interests and needs. Online communities can be open to all or be by membership only and may or may not be moderated. (http://www.learningcircuits.org/glossary.html)
(Definitions obtained from http://www.e-learningguru.com/gloss.htm or otherwise stated. Those without definitions are generally explained in the names themselves.)

In my work context:

What experience have you had with e-Learning?My experience with e-learning has involved use of several of the components used in e-learning. Most involvement has not been for educational purposes.

Describe the methods of delivery you have experienced? Email and chat I have used mainly for private use, however last semester in order to interact with my group and work through our assignment my group regularly emailed each other ideas for our work and we also worked online via msn messenger. Online quizzes I have completed for some subjects for assessment as well as online surveys.

I have used the discussion forum to post questions about assessments. I also go to the discussion board to read others questions which usually helps me in my own approach to my work.

How do these relate to the definitions of e-Learning outlined in the earlier readings? Each of these activities involved the use of computers and networks working simultaneously. Perhaps the greatest feature of using these methods was that it allowed me to communicate with my peers anywhere and anytime.

“E-Learning Alphabet Soup: A Guide to Terms”
http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art1_1.htm

“E-Learning is really nothing more than using some form of technology to deliver training and other educational materials … E-Learning is the latest, in vogue, all-inclusive term for training delivered by a number of means. In the past, these have included the use of mainframe computers, floppy diskettes, multimedia CD-ROMs, and interactive videodisks. Most recently, Web technology (both Internet and Intranet delivery) have become preferred delivery options. In the near future, e-learning will also include training delivered on PDA’s (e.g., Palm Pilots) and even via wireless devices like your cell phone. This new, mobile form of education is called, predictably enough, m-learning.”

Why do you need an e-Learning Glossary? E-Learning as a topic comes with an array of confusing acronyms and technology related buzzwords. An e-Learning glossary assists in understanding these terms. It is a reliable source to refer to define unfamiliar jargon.

Where do you start searching? A variety of search engines can be used to find e-Learning glossaries that are already established.

How do you judge their relevance and credibility? Relevance and credibility can be found by looking at the publishing date as well as the publisher, references (e.g. Government and educational departments etc). Also the domain of the URL can indicate relevance and credibility, country code domains (.au, .nz, .de, .ch, .uk), generic domains (.com, .edu, .org, .net, .gov).

CHUNKING – It is the process of separating learning materials into smaller/simpler sections in order to improve learner comprehension and retentionE-BOOK – Information and graphics that have been organized in electronic or computerized lessons or chapters and made available via computer

BLOG – Blog is short for “Web Log” and refers to short messages that are posted onto a web site by an author. Blogs are typically informal and personal messages almost like daily diary entries.

PRESCRIPTIVE LEARNING – Training content that is suited for the individual needs or skill level of a particular learner

NETIQUETTE – is simply the etiquette we use on the internet, that is how we act and behave on line

JPEG - A popular file format for photographs intended for display on web pages. The file extension is JPG.

STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE (SQL) – used in relational databases to perform queries and searches. Important to know who to use in order queries and searches conducted according to criteria.

PODCAST – a podcast is an audio file that allows media to be downloaded or streamed from the internet. Most commonly used by radio stations, broadcasts are recorded and then made available to listeners via a podcast.

WEB-BASED LEARNING – is associated with learning materials delivered in a Web browser, including when the materials are packaged on CD-ROM or other media.

ONLINE LEARNING – is associated with content readily accessible on a computer. The content may be on the Web or the Internet, or simply installed on a CD-ROM or the computer hard disk.

DISTANCE LEARNING – involves interaction at a distance between instructor and learners, and enables timely instructor reaction to learners. Simply posting or broadcasting learning materials to learners is not distance learning. Instructors must be involved in receiving feedback from learners.

Just an additional comment in regards to this particular glossary … we were asked to post the definition of one word on the discussion board and were meant to write this definition in our own words. In going through this discussion board what I found was that it was very difficult to go through for several reasons:

1. As the discussion board in which the posting was to be made was open to all the classes in the subject, students from other classes were posting up work that their teacher had directed them to and so I was sifting through material unrelated to this exercise

2. Some students posted up a whole glossary that they had copy and pasted rather than one term

3. The threads that were added in the discussion board were merely titled “definition”. What would have made it easier would be if students had titled their threads with the word they were defining. Also, it would’ve avoided duplication of terms.

Already, I can see some problems with using e-Learning. I think the resolution would have been to give clearer guidelines.

“e-Learning is a mode of learning that is primarily delivered through the use of electronic media accessible through the use of web technology that is available anywhere and anytime.”

Given these definitions …

“E-Learning is instruction that is delivered electronically, in part or wholly – via a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator, through the Internet or an intranet, or through multimedia platforms such as CD-ROM or DVD. Increasingly – as higher bandwidth has become more accessible – it has been identified primarily with using the Web, or an intranet’s web, leveraging the Web’s visual environment and interactive nature.”

Brandon Hall, nd, FAQs About e-Learning

http://www.brandonhall.com/public/faqs2/faqs2.htm

“Instructional content or learning experiences delivered or enabled by electronic technology.”

“A Vision of e-Learning for America’s Workforce”, ASTD,

June 2001

And given the following readings to complete …

Reading 1: Tsai, S. & Machado, P. 2002, “e-Learning, Online Learning, Web-based Learning, or Distance Learning: Unveiling the Ambiguity in Current Terminology”, eLearn Magazine, July.

http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=6-1

Reading 2: Cher Ping Lim, 2001, “What Isn’t e-Learning?” TechKnowLogia, May/June, pp11-12.

http://www.techknowlogia.org/TKL_active_pages2/CurrentArticles/main.asp?FileType=HTML&ArticleID=267

Reading 3: Downes, S. (2005), “e-Learn 2.0″ , eLearn Magazine online

http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1

Reading 4: Taylor, Donald H. (2007) “It’s time to drop e-Learning” TrainingZone.co.uk , 11 July

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=170224

> Web-based learning entails content in a Web browser and actual learning materials delivered in Web format. Web browsing is the key feature of Web-based learning.

> Online learning is related to the more common concepts of online help, online documentation, and online services. It is associated with readily available learning materials in a computer environment.

> Distance learning requires that instructors (or the instructing institution) obtain educational responses from the students and reacts to them with adequate educational responses.

> Lifelong learning is now seen by corporations as a basic necessity for survival.

> Internet- supported learning innovation allows workers to learn anywhere and anytime, promotes active and independent learning, and supports communication between experts and novices. The anywhere-anytime nature of e-learning generates substantial cost savings to corporations.

> Four key questions that should be considered when evaluating e-Learning in the corporation context:

· Does the course emphasize on both processes and products?
· Does the course focus on knowledge management rather than information provision?
· Does the course harness the strengths and address the weaknesses of web-based learning?
· Does the course provide interactions among the learners and their communities?

> The dominant learning technology employed today is a type of system that organizes and delivers online courses-the learning management system (LMS).

> Internet users are changing. Sometimes called “digital natives” and sometimes called “n-gen”, these users absorb information quickly, in images and video as well as text, from multiple sources simultaneously. They operate at “twitch speed”, expecting instant responses and feedback. They prefer random “on-demand” access to media, expect to be in constant communication with their friends (who may be next door or around the world), and they are as likely to create their own media (or download someone else’s) as to purchase a book or a CD.

> It is “learner centered” or “student centered”. The control of learning is placed in the hands of the learner themselves. The learning is characterized not only by greater autonomy for the learner, but also a greater emphasis on active learning, with creation, communication and participation playing key roles, and on changing roles for the teacher, indeed, even a collapse of the distinction between teacher and student altogether.

> Web 2.0 is a platform in which content was created, shared, remixed, repurposed and passed along. Web 2.0 is not a technological revolution but rather a social revolution.

> e-Learning 2.0

· Blogging is very different from traditionally assigned learning content. It is much less formal. It is written from a personal point of view, in a personal voice. Students’ blog posts are often about something from their own range of interests, rather than on a course topic or assigned project. More importantly, what happens when students blog, and read reach others’ blogs, is that a network of interactions forms-much like a social network.
· It’s not just blogging. Educators have also taken an interest in podcasting.
· Rather than being composed, organized and packaged, e-learning content is syndicated, much like a blog post or podcast. It is aggregated by students, using their own personal RSS reader or some similar application. From there, it is remixed and repurposed with the student’s own individual application in mind, the finished product being fed forward to become fodder for some other student’s reading and use.
· In the future it will be more widely recognized that the learning comes not from the design of learning content but in how it is used. Most e-learning theorists are already there, and are exploring how learning content-whether professionally authored or created by students- can be used as the basis for learning activities rather than the conduit for learning content.

From having done these readings and gathered some main points, my initial definition of e-Learning remains the same however what I realise is that e-Learning encompasses more than can be defined. It is broad and is made up of a number of different learning methods (as well as a huge amount of jargon) and doesn’t necessarily have to be web-based, however, as web technology gains prominence in society it is no wonder that most e-Learning does take place via the Internet.