The iPad – a real device for learning?
The iPad. At last: a bit of learning technology kit that won’t get in the way of learning. Finally, a device that will actually enhance learning, and in my particular interest, online learning at home.
Web Phone System Broadcasts The News
The popular Skype Internet phone system has found another job – broadcasting the news. Janie Porter of WSTP-TV used a Skype video-phone connection from her laptop to send her story live to the television studio. The quality was good enough to go straight to the public and allowed Porter to set up her own outside broadcast system singlehanded. More from Poynter Online …
Online Learning Goes Deeper
Researchers at Indiana University have discovered an unsuspected benefit for online learners over those working in more traditional ways. It seems that the online approach lends itself to deep learning, a type of learning that goes beyond rote memorising and focuses on reflection, integrative learning, and higher-order thinking such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which was conducted by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, collected information from nearly 380,000 randomly selected first-year and senior students at 722 four-year colleges and universities across the United States. NSSE explored the experiences of online learners through a set of additional questions given to more than 22,000 students from 47 institutions. The results were released on 10th November.
“Critics of distance education assume that face-to-face classes have inherent advantages as learning environments,” said Alexander C. McCormick, NSSE director and associate professor of education at Indiana University. “But these results indicate that those who teach classes online may be making special efforts to engage their students.” We know that NCS tutors always make a special effort and it appears that this is a real benefit to students.
You can read more at Top News.
Clearer English for All
We are delighted to announce the arrival of Drivel Defence from the Plain English Campaign. This is a software tool that can be used online to check your text for difficult English before including it in your web site. We’re looking forward to using it in the NCS College’s resources. It should be helpful to our students, particularly those who have English as a second language.
So how well does it perform? I loaded the first paragraph from this post into it and scored well for clarity. The only change recommended was that the second last sentence should be rewritten as “We’re looking send to using it in the NCS College’s resources.” Oh, well, back to the drawing board, guys. For now I’d recommend not ticking the box marked “possible alternative words (from PEC A to Z).” It does very well in identifying good sentences, though.
Is College Necessary? – Tutors Are.
Trent Batson of Campus Technology has raised the question: “Is College Necessary in a Knowledge-Drenched World?” The point being that, when we have so much technology in our homes that libraries, art galleries and other institutional places have difficulty competing, do people need to attend a college to get an education?
Well, it seems that most of the facilities of a college can be replicated at home, apart from one. Face to face contact with a tutor is still at the heart of learning. Only a real human tutor can take a student’s questions in the context of that student’s current state of knowledge and produce a meaningful answer at that moment in the student’s learning. Something that the New Curiosity Shop has always tried to promote, with a real tutor on every course.
Read more at Campus Technology.
Making the Most of Moodle: 2 – Onwards!
The second course in our Moodle training series is finally ready and waiting. This takes on from where MMM1 left of, and takes the teacher into new realms, showing how to prepare and upload resources such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Word into Moodle.
As with MMM1 it’s fully hands on, with lots of video walkthroughs to make the whole process as painless as possible. Participants get their own little Moodle space in which to play and practice.
To find out more, visit: Making the Most of Moodle: 2 – Onwards!
