text:
DITeLearning/Instructional Design

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

The Instructional Design and eAuthoring Module
This is undoubtedly the most important module in the MSc. in Applied eLearning course. Your expectation as students should be enormous and the possibility to learn about how to use the available technology in education and how to create an effective and attractive elearning course. Through this section you will know about the learning outcomes and the assessment necessary for his module.

Learning Outcomes
As successful students in this module we should be able to fill in these requirements:
 * 1) Design a  pedagogically  sound  and  accessible  e-learning  resource/activity, informed    by    relevant    theories    and    using    appropriate information communication technologies.
 * 2) Develop a  storyboard  to  plan  for  a  user  friendly,  technically  robust  and pedagogically effective e-learning resource/activity.
 * 3) Justify decisions  relating  to  the  selection,  design  and  use  of  elearning technologies  taking  into  account  the  impact  of  local,  national  and  global contexts.
 * 4) Apply principles  of  learning  orientations  to  an  identified  elearning  situation within their own working context.
 * 5) Evaluate critically the pedagogical value and usability of e-learning materials in a range of different contexts.
 * 6) Show evidence of active engagement with peers in learning about the end product and also about the process of working in a team.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Module Assessment
The students must demonstrate and justify their understanding of the theories of learning and instructional design. They must select appropriate tools to create resources/activities that are technically sound and educationally effective.

Group's assessment:
 * 1) A Storyboard showing evidence  of  careful  planning  and  rationale.
 * 2) A elearning resource which should adhere  to  standards  of  usability  and accessibility.
 * 3) An oral presentation of the project be made to peers and tutors.

Individual's assessment:
 * 1) An annotated bibliography with evidence of research for this project describing the literature researched and referred to.
 * 2) A reflection of 1000 words providing a rationale for the design process and informing by literature (learning theories, instructional design theory and pedagogical rationale for use of technology). The reflection also should contain reflection on group work, how they contributed to the group work, or worked individually.

The Art of Instructional Design

 * "There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common." (Diderot, 1713-84).

Definitions
Instructional Design models or theories may be defined as frameworks for developing modules or lessons that increase and/or enhance the possibility of learning, and encourage the engagement of learners so that they learn faster and gain deeper levels of understanding.

Instructional Design (ID) models have a broad scope and typically divide the instruction design process into five phases:

 * 1) Analysis
 * 2) Design
 * 3) Development
 * 4) Implementation or Delivery
 * 5) Evaluation

There are three types of strategies within Instruction Design theories (Reigeluth, 1983):

 * 1) Organizational strategies are broken down on the micro or macro level and deals with the way in which a lesson is arranged and sequenced.
 * 2) Delivery strategies are concerned with the decisions that affect the way in which information is carried to the student, particularly, the selection of instructional media.
 * 3) Management strategies involve the decisions that help the learner interact with the activities designed for learning.

Merrill's Component Display Theory
M. David Merrill's Component Display Theory (CDT) (1983) describes the micro elements of instruction (single ideas and methods for teaching them). It is designed to work in conjunction with Riegeluth's theory.

CDT is comprised of three parts:

 * 1) A performance/content dimension comprised of the desired level of student performance and type of content.
 * 2) Four primary presentation forms
 * 3) A set of prescriptions relating the level of performance and type of content to the presentation forms.

Merrill further classifies learning into two dimensions:
 * Content:
 * Which consists of facts, concepts, procedures, and principles. Content ranges from facts, which are the most basic forms of content, to principles. It is the actual information to be learned. The four types of content in component display theory are:
 * Facts - logically associated pieces of information. Some examples are names, dates, and events.
 * Concepts - symbols, events, and objects that share characteristics and are identified by the same name. Concepts make up a large portion of language and understanding them is integral to communication.
 * Procedures - a set of ordered steps, sequenced to solve a problem or accomplish a goal.
 * Principles - work through either cause-and-effect or relationships. They explain or predict why something happens in a particular way.

 * Performance:
 * Made up of remembering, using, and generalities. Performance is classified with remembering as being the simplest form of performance, to finding (generalities) the most advanced. Performance is the manner in which the learner applies the content. The three types of performance are:
 * Remembering - the learner is required to search and recall from memory a particular item of information,
 * Using - the learner directly apply the information to a specific case and
 * Finding - the learner uses the information to derive a new abstraction (concepts, principles, etc.).

Watch a video clip about instructional design with Dr. David Merrill delivered at Utah State University in 1989.

Robert Gagne's Nine Steps of Instruction
According to Robert Gagnè (1985), there are nine events that are needed for effective learning. They include a sequence of events similar to the following:

 * Gain attention:
 * Present a problem or a new situation. Use an "interest device" that grabs the learner's attention. This can be thought of as a teaser (the short segment shown in a TV show right before the opening credits that is designed to keep you watching and listening). The ideal is to grab the learners' attention so that they will watch and listen, while you present the learning point. You can use such devices as: storytelling, demonstrations, presenting a problem to be solved, doing something the wrong way (the instruction would then show how to do it the right way) or why it is important.

 * Inform learner of Objective:
 * This allows the learner's to organize their thoughts and around what they are about to see, hear, and/or do. There is a saying in the training filed to: Firstly tell them what you're going to tell them, secondly tell them, and finally tell them what you told them. This cues them and then provides a review which has proven to be effective. e.g. describe the goal of a lesson, state what the learners will be able to accomplish and how they will be able to use the knowledge.

 * Stimulate recall of prior knowledge:
 * This allows the learners to build on their previous knowledge or skills. Although we are capable of having our "creative" minutes, it is much easier to build on what we already know. e.g. remind the learners of prior knowledge relevant to the current lesson, provide the learners with a framework that helps learning and remembering.

 * Present the material:
 * Chunk the information to avoid memory overload. Blend the information to aid in information recall. This is directly related to Skinner's "sequenced learning events". This allows learners to receive feedback on individualized tasks, thereby correcting isolated problems rather than having little idea of where the root of the learning challenge lies. Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms taxonomy and Learning Strategies can be used to help sequence the lesson by helping you chunk them into levels of difficulty.

 * Provide guidance for learning:
 * This is not the presentation of content, but are instructions on how to learn. This is normally simpler and easier than the subject matter or content. It uses a different channel or media to avoid mixing it with the subject matter. The rate of learning increases because learners are less likely to lose time or become frustrated by basing performance on incorrect facts or poorly understood concepts.

 * Elicit performance:
 * Practice by letting the learner do something with the newly acquired behavior, skills, or knowledge.

 * Provide feedback:
 * Show correctness of the learner's response, analyze learner's behavior. This can be a test, quiz, or verbal comments. The feedback needs to be specific, not, "you are doing a good job" Tell them "why" they are doing a good job or provide specific guidance.

 * Assess performance:
 * Test to determine if the lesson has been learned. Can also give general progress information.

 * Enhance retention and transfer:
 * Inform the learner about similar problem situations, provide additional practice, put the learner in a transfer situation, review the lesson.

Reigeluth's Elaboration Theory
What is known as "sequencing" and organizing "epitomes" in Reigeluth's Elaboration theory, is commonly referred to as "chunking" — configuring large amounts of information into smaller units of information that are scaffolded (supportive structures) in order to accommodate memory and learning limitations.

For example, "Instructional Design" is chunked or epitomized into analysis, design, development, Implementation, & evaluation.

Charles Reigeluth was a doctorate student of Merrill. He used a sequencing approach that is consistent with Merrill's Component Display Theory (that is, each theory enhances the other). Reigeluth believes that instruction is made out of layers and that each layer of instruction elaborates on the previously presented ideas. By elaborating on the previous ideal, it reiterates, thereby improving retention. This layering has a zoom lens sequencing approach that runs from simple to complex and repeated general-to-specific:

 * 1) Present overview of simplest and most fundamental ideas.
 * 2) Add complexity to one aspect.
 * 3) Review the overview and show relationships to the details.
 * 4) Provide additional elaboration of details.
 * 5) Provide additional summary and synthesis.

This zoom lens approach first looks at the subject through a wide-angle lens. That is, the subject matter is general and fundamental. This allows us to deal with the core aspects of the subject. Elaboration begins with an overview of the simplest and most fundamental ideas of the subject.

Then we start to zoom in with the lens so that we pick up some details and specifics about the subject matter. We can also observe the relationships between the wide-angle subject shot and the zoom details. This principle as applied to elaboration theory is called a cognitive zoom.

As we continue to zoom, we go into great detail with each iteration or layering. Note that we are primarily concerned with the sequencing of ideas as opposed to the individual ideas themselves. Each zoom that we make is called a sequence. Sequencing in this case relates to fundamental ideas or core principles. The basic ones are presented first, this in turn, leads to a great layer of specifics. Each sequence of ideas or principles are called epitomes in elaboration theory. The epitome serves as a foundation from which more specific information may be developed.

 The Seven Steps in Elaboration

1) Sequence

This simple to complex procedure can take many forms such as an overview, advance organizer, or spiral curriculum. This sequence is one in which the general ideas epitomize rather than summarize, and the epitomizing is organized on the basis of a single type of content:

 * 1) Conceptual - Concepts are certain sets of objects, events, or symbols that have certain common characteristics.
 * 2) Procedural - Procedures are sets of actions intended to achieve an end. Theoretical - Principles are changes in something else, generally denoting cause and effect.

One of these three contents is chosen to achieve the goals of a lesson or course. Epitomizing is structured as follows: One type of content is chosen (conceptual, procedural, or theoretical). All the organizing content in the course is then listed. The most basic and fundamental ideas are selected and presented at the application level.

Prechunks is the subject matter before the first level of elaboration. Before we epitomize (chunk) the subject matter is in a state of disarray (elaboration). When we postchunck in Instructional Design we put chaos into order when we chunk (epitomize) the subject matter. From this first layer or epitome, we can then elaborate by organizing (the second step) the content.

2) Organize

The second step elaborates upon organizing the content in the first level. This process continues in the same way as the first step of Sequence. The relationships that result between the levels are organized according to content. At each level the expanded epitome is used to create a means to elaborate upon the next level.

Epitomes can be sequenced according to the order of steps:

 * 1) Forward Chaining is presenting them in the order in which they are performed.
 * 2) Backward Chaining is presenting them in the reverse order (backwards).
 * 3) Hierarchical Sequencing is presenting all the major sub-steps separately before integrating them into a step in the sequence.
 * 4) General to Detailed Sequencing is presented by summarizing.
 * 5) Simple to Complex Sequencing is presenting them by their shortest paths (procedures) with each successive path becoming more complex.

Each epitome should be examined closely to determine if the learners have the essential knowledge that will allow them to learn the subject matter. If the necessary knowledge is not present, it must be provided.

3) Summarization

In order to systematically review what has already been learned, a "summarizer" (defined as a concise generality for each topic presented in the elaboration (Ely & Plomp, 1996)) is created. A summarizer provides a concise statement of each idea, an example. Two types of summarizers are used:

 * 1) Internal - The summary comes at the end of the lesson and deals specifically with the content of that lesson.
 * 2) Within-set - This deals with all that has been learned so far in a particular set of lessons. This can include other lessons that coordinate with that lesson.

4) Synthesize

This step integrates and interrelates the ideas taught thus far. The goal is to facilitate deeper understanding, meaningfulness, and retention in regards to the content area.

5) Analogy

Analogy is the use of a familiar idea or concept to introduce or define a new idea or concept. Analogies aid the trainer in reaching the learner's field of experience. Presenting analogies throughout the instruction helps the learners to build on their present knowledge or skills.

6) Cognitive-Strategy Activator

There are two categories of cognitive-strategy activators:

 * 1) Imbedded - Uses pictures, diagrams, analogies, and other elements that force the learner to interact with the sequence and content.
 * 2) Detached - Causes the learner to employ a previously acquired cognitive skill.

7) Learner Control

Learner Control deals with the freedom of the learner to control the selection and sequencing of such instructional elements as content, rate, components (instructional-strategy), and cognitive strategies.

Concluding Thoughts

Note that this is a macro strategy of instructional design that focus on the organization and sequencing of subject matter content by addressing the four design problem areas: selection, sequencing, synthesizing, and summarizing.

Elaboration theory is best suited for teaching causal relationships and sequences rather than problem solving or facts. It works in conjunction with component-display theory, which deals with the micro aspects of instruction and works out the details of elaboration.

title: DITeLearning/Instructional Design


text:
DITeLearning/ePortfolio

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

ePortfolio
An eportfolio is a learner-created collection of digital items: ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback, which presents a selected audience with evidence of a person's learning and/or ability. eportfolio based learning is the process of planning, compiling, sharing, discussing, reflecting, giving and receiving feedback.

Building a eportfolio throughout a course requires self-evaluation of the work that each individual is undertaking. Eportfolios have long been a key method for presenting what a student has learnt and it is a complex product with many different components. Constructing portfolios takes time, effort and commitment to the task. It contains evidence of a student’s work over time and may include accomplishments, a history of a person’s development, an outline of a person’s philosophy of teaching and critiques of one’s work by oneself and others.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter the learner will be able to:
 * 1) Understand what the importance to build an eportfolio.
 * 2) Understand what the main characteristics of an portfolio.
 * 3) Understand which the main contents that an eportfolio have to have.
 * 4) Understand what kind of eportfolios can exist.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Learning through Reflection
Fitzmaurice (2008) reflects that:

 * "In constructing a portfolio the student becomes more self-aware and more articulate about learning and his or own growth process. In the past decade with the growth of technology and computers in the classroom, there has been a growth in the use of electronic portfolios. The benefits of these portfolios are many as work can be stored digitally allowing students to edit, cut, paste and play back what they have entered. Electronic portfolios are a basis for students’ discussion of their own progress and a record of their reflections on what they have learnt. The creative activity of constructing a portfolio rests with the learner but in many cases there are required elements or components."

The word reflection occurs a number of times and reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it (Boud, Keogh & Walker, 1985). Reflection on practice is an essential component of any portfolio process and requires that the learner practice in-depth reflection and then writes a reflective account. Let us focus firstly on practising in-depth reflection using a model outlined by Gibbs.

This page will discuss the ePortfolio tool, and our web page will also be used to support this discussion.

We learn by experiences that allow us to (Wertenbroch & Nabeth, 2000):

 * 1) Absorb (read, hear, feel)
 * 2) Do (activity)
 * 3) Interact (socialize)

In addition, we also learn by reflecting on such experiences (Dewey 1933). Reflection is thinking for an extended period by linking recent experiences to earlier ones in order to promote a more complex and interrelated mental schema. The thinking involves looking for commonalities, differences, and interrelations beyond their superficial elements. The goal is to develop higher order thinking skills.

Many educators consider Dewey (1933) the modern day originator of the concept of reflection, although he drew on the ideas of earlier educators, such as Aristotle, Plato, and Confucius. He thought of reflection as a form of problem solving that chained several ideas together by linking each idea with its predecessor in order to resolve an issue.

Essentials of Reflection
Hatton & Smith (1995) identified four essential issues concerning reflection:

 * 1) We should learn to frame and reframe complex or ambiguous problems, test out various interpretations, and then modify our actions consequently.
 * 2) Our thoughts should be extended and systematic by looking back upon our actions some time after they have taken place.
 * 3) Certain activities labelled as reflective, such as the use of journals or group discussions following practical experiences, are often not directed towards the solution of specific problems.
 * 4) We should consciously account for the wider historic, cultural, and political values or beliefs in framing practical problems to arrive at a solution. This is often identified as critical reflection . However, the term critical reflection, like reflection itself, appears to be used loosely, some taking it to mean no more than constructive self-criticism of one's actions with a view to improvement.

Encouraging Reflection
Most educators believe that "reflection is useful in the learning process, even without the supporting research data." However, it is often difficult to encourage reflection among the learners. Gustafson & Bennett (1999) found that promoting reflection among military cadets by means of written responses in "diaries" was difficult. Cadets across three different years generally did not produce responses indicating any deep reflection. Although the results were disappointing, they are consistent with the research literature on promoting reflection that generally indicates it is difficult to accomplish (Stamper, 1996).

In their work, Gustafson and Bennett identified eleven variables that affected the cadets' lack of reflective behaviour. These eleven variables are grouped into three main characteristics:

 * 1) Learner
 * 2) Environmental
 * 3) Reflection Task

Gibbs Reflective Cycle

 * Context
 * Describe what has happened.
 * Write a description of the event/happening.
 * Explain who was involved, what you were trying to achieve, what happened.
 * Thoughts
 * What were you thinking at the time (Important to journal your thoughts at the time)
 * What were you thinking afterwards?
 * Feelings
 * What were your feelings or emotions at the time?
 * Were you feeling positive or were you experiencing negative feelings?
 * How did you feel about things afterwards?
 * Evaluation
 * How did things go?
 * Did they go well or were there problems and if there were, were you able to resolve them?
 * Analyse
 * Try to identify the factors that affected the outcome?
 * What helped and what proves a hindrance?
 * Can you make sense of why certain things happened?
 * What were you trying to achieve?
 * Can you make sense of this experience in the light of past experiences and future practices?
 * Reframe
 * What might you have done differently?
 * What other choices did I have?
 * Could you have adopted an alternative strategy or approach?Could you dome something to lessen the possibility of negative events?
 * Future Action
 * What will you do in this kind of situation in the future?
 * How do you feel about this experience now?
 * What have you learnt?

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: DITeLearning/ePortfolio


text:
DITeLearning/Storyboard

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Introduction
The first procedure, before you start your learning object is to elaborate a storyboard. Through this useful tool you are organizing your ideas in relation to the project and at the same time filling the first ADDIE Model's phase called Analyse.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter the learner will be able to:
 * 1) Understand the relevance to build a storyboard.
 * 2) Understand how to construct a storyboard.
 * 3) Understand which the main characteristics in a storyboard.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Instructional Design Storyboards
Storyboarding is a method which was developed for use in film and animation and it is now also used for designing educational packages. In film, storyboards are developed before the movie starts filming and are used to help plan how each scene will look and what the key elements of the scene will be. The principal behind storyboards is the same for developing learning packages, except in most cases the storyboard looks less like a comic strip and contains more text. The storyboard defines structure of the package, page by page (or in the case of face- to-face teaching each panel could represent an activity). For each page, you need a fairly detailed description of what will go on that page. Practice varies from place to place, but some people will put the final text of the page into their storyboard while others will write a summary of what will go on the page; the choice is yours. The storyboard should include details of any images, interactions or other media that will be used in each page. This will either refer to an existing resource or describe what the resource will be. If someone else is going to be developing the resources, make sure you give them a good enough description to allow them to do this. Try not to have too many pages of just text; this would be quite boring for your learners. When developing your storyboard think about:
 * What do you want your learners to learn?
 * What skills do you want them to develop?
 * How can this package meet these needs?
 * What kind of activities would help?

The creation of a new learning package in a more formal manner allow educators more reflection about their current methods of teaching. In practice, storyboards are dynamic documents, and you will probably need to review them during the actual development of your package. This is quite normal; in fact, it is very rare for storyboards to remain static throughout the development of learning packages.

Watch here a short explanation by film-makers about storyboards.

Create a Content Outline
The high level objectives are the backbone of a storyboard creation. The high level objectives allow you to decide the number of lessons, topics and sub–topics the course can be broken down into. These objectives also allow you to decide what the approach within the topics would be. After defining the high level learning objectives, it is important to break the objectives into definite content outlines. Once the high-level learning objectives are in place, the outline of the course can be defined.

Read here an interesting article about the use of storyboard in education environment.

Visualize the course
Once the content outline is in place, it is time to visualize how the course should be. Content plays an important role in a course and it needs to be supported appropriately by use of relevant graphics. Graphics consist of static images, illustrations or animations that support the content. Never use a graphic element just to use up space. The graphic should be a visual representative of the content that you are explaining. While visualizing the placement of graphics in a course, it is by default that the graphics are placed on the left side of the screen and the corresponding content is displayed on the right side of the screen. This is for the easy readability factor.
 * Tip: For complex courses, it always advisable for the Instructional Designer to visualize the screens with the graphic designer, in order to achieve the desired result.

Use Interactive Elements
You are bound to lose the interest of a learner, if your course is devoid of any interactivity. Active involvement of the learner by the use of interactive elements and in-line assessments will hold the learners interest in the course. Roll-overs, click-and-reveal, multiple tabs can be different ways of representing content and graphics in the same space. Create scenarios if you would want to explain a situation to the learner. Similarly, if you are demonstrating a product that requires multiple steps to operate, create a simulation that will allow the learner to explore how that product works. These interactivities can be used depending on the complexity of a course that is being created.

Audio usage
When you use audio for a course, keep in mind that not all users may have an access to headphones or sound cards in their machine. Therefore, it is important that you do not cover any aspect in the audio that is not present on the screen. Keep in mind to retain important instructions and directions on-screen even if they are being narrated. For example: Click on the right posture a presenter needs to have while making a presentation. Avoid using a narration in in-line texts or assessments. They do not add any value in such screens. When describing simulations, it is always better to list the steps also apart from the narrations being used. In case there more than 15-20 steps involved to complete a simulation, it is better to have the steps listed down for an easy reference, rather than forcing the learner to click on the replay button.

Use assessments
Use assessments at regular intervals to test the learners instead of having a cluster of questions towards the end of the course. This helps to reinforce the information/ knowledge you are trying to impart to the learner, how well it is being processed & understood by the learner and most importantly it is also an indicator of how successful the course is. Ensure that the assessments are in tandem with your learning objectives you have defined at the start of the course.

Summarizing
Listed below are some additional tips to keep in mind while creating a storyboard in e-learning: (Pratibha G, 2009)
 * 1) Consider and advocate for the learner's point of view
 * 2) Be a learning expert, not a subject matter expert
 * 3) Create learning objectives that will allow the learner to take away an understanding from the course
 * 4) Ensure that the content maps to the learning objectives
 * 5) Ensure that the flow of learning objectives and content is logical
 * 6) Apply an instructional strategy
 * 7) Design the course appropriately
 * 8) Do not clutter the screen with an excessive use of graphics and content. The neater the screen, the better is design of the course and easier for the learner to understand the course.

See here a presentation about storyboards.

The WikiResources Group Storyboard
Our group decided, after many discussions and analysis about pros and cons, to present two kinds of storyboards. Firstly a common form built in Microsoft Power Point containing a series of steps until the last design about the project. Click here to access the Storyboard in Power Point presentation. An alternative way to create a storyboard was tried, called storybird, a experiment which we can create the storyboard as a story.

You can visualize the result of our experiment here.

title: DITeLearning/Storyboard


text:
User talk:Editor~enwikiversity

 Hello Editor, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --Adambro 11:04, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Editor. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Editor~enwikiversity that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:35, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:06, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Editor~enwikiversity


text:
DITeLearning/Wiki Analysis

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Wiki Analysis
The main objective of this page is to facilitate a group discussion as to why we decided on a wiki as the learning resource of our choice. We will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the wiki in its role as a lifelong learning object. An important consideration in our choice of using a wiki as learning resource is the fact that it is free to everyone. Additionally we wanted to create a dynamic, evolving resource that can be added to and changed globally in keeping with technological advances and learning research. We felt that as the wiki is interactive and available to everyone it would provide an ideal solution to our requirements. Therefore it is a tool that will remain alive, being continually adjusted and updated by ourselves and more importantly by future elearning students.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter the learner will be able to:
 * 1) Understand why did you choose for a specific platform to build your learning object.
 * 2) Understand why did you choose a kind of learning object.
 * 3) Understand what kind of analysis you have to do to decide about your learning object.
 * 4) Understand which tools you can use to help you in your decision.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

 * "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.
 * That's what we are doing." (Jimmy Wales, 2004; Wikipedia co-founder)

Firstly, we start our discussion introducing the ADDIE Model, as this will be an important tool for our project structure. As the initial steps evolve under the idea of Analysis, Design and Development, where we are attempting the major steps that allow us to identify the tools that will support our project. Afterwards, it is very important to implement our decisions and generate an evaluation that indicates if our project will be able to achieve our initial objective, of being a valuable resource for future students. Once the ADDIE model is introduced, we proceed with the Wiki Resource analysis, where two different models will be applied with the aim of clarifying our tool choice. Thus our first step is to present the PMI Analysis to continue with the SWOT discussion. These two models will help us to justify our decision of using a wiki as our main tool.

The ADDIE Model
The ADDIE model is a systematic instructional design model consisting of five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Consequently, we decided start our project following the ADDIE Model five phases to help us organize ideas and the structure. Each step has an outcome that feeds into the next step in the sequence. As instructional designers we must follow this five phases to construct an ideal learning object. The five phases of ADDIE are as follows:

 * Analysis
 * During analysis, the designer identifies the learning problem, the goals and objectives, the audience’s needs, existing knowledge, and any other relevant characteristics. Analysis also considers the learning environment, any constraints, the delivery options, and the timeline for the project.

 * Design
 * A systematic process of specifying learning objectives. Detailed storyboards and prototypes are often made, and the look and feel, graphic design, user-interface and content is determined here.

 * Development
 * The actual creation (production) of the content and learning materials based on the Design phase.

 * Implementation
 * During implementation, the plan is put into action and a procedure for training the learner and teacher is developed. Materials are delivered or distributed to the student group. After delivery, the effectiveness of the training materials is evaluated.

 * Evaluation
 * This phase consists of formative and summative evaluation. Formative evaluation is present in each stage of the ADDIE process. Summative evaluation consists of tests designed for criterion-related referenced items and providing opportunities for feedback from the users. Revisions are made as necessary. Rapid prototyping (continual feedback) has sometimes been cited as as a way to improve the generic ADDIE model.
 * (Strickland, 2007).

You can also read further information about ADDIE Model.

Wiki Analysis
The main objective of this section is to discuss the wiki tool starting with the PMI, and following with the SWOT model. In this page we are presenting our analysis in a table format, but we are also doing this analysis in the following page: Alternative Analysis in order to facilitate reading, so we have removed tables format and colours added to the structure that is presented in our main page.

PMI Analysis
Having decided on the topic for our eLearning resource and constructed our Storyboard, we now consider that a PMI Plus, Minus, Interesting) analysis of the tool we propose to use for the development of this resource is the next step in our project.

The PMI analysis will provide valuable information on the pros and cons of using a wiki to develop an eLearning resource.

This web page contain more details about PMI Analysis.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that is exceedingly valuable. It involves identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. After the PMI analysis is done, it is very important to condense all the information into a SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), thus we are able to connect all the valuable information that help us to decide if the wiki is the optimal resource for our project.

As part of an interview by Portland State University students, Ward Cunningham  answers the question: "What strengths does wiki have as a mechanism for enterprise collaboration?"

Conclusions
The evaluation of pros and cons of our resource have been done (see table 1 for the PMI and table 2 for the SWOT analysis). We have discussed and analysed many options, and finally after looking at all possible tools (i.e. blogs, websites, PPT, ePortfolio, etc), our group think that the most suitable tool for our project is the Wiki. At this point we would like to bring back into scene our original question:

 * Why do we use a wiki as an eLearning tool?

In answering this question, our major concern have been how could we help and facilitate future students learning, as we think that our main goal is to pass learning and eLearning experiences to those students. Therefore, our project final objective is to act as a legacy, we also want to add an important distiction to our project: Our tool needs to keep growing and developing, so knwoledge can be expanded and transmitted. For this reason, we think that the best way to keep this instrument alive, is to allow other people to interact and contribute to it, and the best way on achieving this goal is to based our resource in a wiki platform.

Our group sought a tool that would enable the simultaneous involvement of all elements of the group, allowing the collaborative construction of knowledge in a balanced and gradual manner. We wanted, at the same time, to avoid the division of tasks because, if applied it, would be impracticable a collective practical learning of the whole content, techniques and models used in our project. One of the advantages of using Wiki as a tool for knowledge construction is the fact that it allows this interaction to insert content and, facilitates eLearning students the opportunity to learn how to make a learning object with these features.

Throught the PMI and SWOT analysis we have been able to identify the positives and negatives aspects of the wiki. However, we think that most of the negative aspects can be controlled, or even used as a source to improve the wiki. Thus, as a group has arrived to a consensual agreement where we identify the wiki as the best tool to act as the portal, or initial door to open discussion and generate knowledge to support the improvement of the MSc in Applied eLearning.

title: DITeLearning/Wiki Analysis


text:
DITeLearning/Communication Tools

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Communication Tools
Originally we decided to communicate using a set of several tools. We would like to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and their main role regarding our group communication. Thus, we intend to provide an analysis based on our group experience, and interaction with few of these tools, where we will conclude identifying the ones that help us the most in our eLearning resource.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter the learner will be able to:
 * 1) Know which are the most useful resources you can use in an elearning environment.
 * 2) Analyse each resource presented and choose if it is useful for your project.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Webnote & Evernote
Webnote is an online tool that works as a post post-it. It is useful when organising and structuring group and individual activities. It is possible to record notes that reminds important tasks that should be done in short periods, and also to remind about meetings, etc. Click here to see an example of our webnote, and also to see some basic explanations on how to create your own workspace. An alternative tool is Evernote, this resource is more sophisticated that webnote. You can use ever note to save ideas, items that you like, things that you find interesting and you would like to review, etc. as webnote this tool is also free. An important characteristic of evernote is that allows you save clips, if you find an article, image, video that is interesting you can clip it and save the link as a note, so you will be able to visit that link as many times as you wish. If you want to have a look at it this is the link: http://www.evernote.com

Twitter
Twitter is a convergent technology allowing learners a choice of communication platform for connecting to their online course and freeing them from the need to always be sitting at a computer. Twitter can also bridge the ‘in-world’ (SL) environment, with the 'outside world' of Moodle. Twitter will be investigated to see whether the short messages (Tweets) that it allows could encourage in-course participation from learners.

Diigo
Diigo is a social bookmarking website which allows signed-up users to bookmark and tag web-pages. Additionally, it allows users to highlight any part of a webpage and attach sticky notes to specific highlights or to a whole page. These annotations can be kept private, shared with a group within Diigo or a special link forwarded to someone else. The name "Diigo" is an abbreviation for "Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other stuff".

Google Docs
Google docs is an online component of Google that allows the user to create, store and share word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and survey documents online. Documents created in Google docs can be downloaded and word-processing, spreadsheet and presentations uploaded. The individual applications are not quite as powerful as the desktop equivalents, but offer useful functions with the advantage that these can be shared and worked on together and easily published as a web-page. Documents is particularly powerful and easy to use. The service is free and easy to join. Google docs website

Wiggio
Wiggio is a very interesting resource that facilitates group work. The tool has great potential and has been the main support of our group project. The major advantages of wiggio are: This platform facilitates communication via group email, text, and voice messages. It also facilitates webconferences, chat rooms, and more importantly it allows you to keep track on your activities and share your documents with your team work. We think that these characteristics are very important in order to keep your work organised, and wiggio is a tool that makes all this work much easier. To start working with wiggio you just need to create your own account, what you can do quite quickly visiting the wiggio website http://www.wiggio.com/ Click | hereto see a video explaining the main advantages of using wiggio to organise your work and to communicate.
 * 1) it is very easy to use
 * 2) and it is free

Email
Email is a much under-rated tool for communication. It is easy to set up mail-groups, easy to add attachments and most users would routinely use email so are familiar with its operation. However if difficult to keep and organise archives, everytime that you update a file you will generate a new document, making difficult to track the items at every moment. This tool is quite helpful to communicate quickly and to transmit information, but quite inefficient in order to organise and structure group work.

Facebook
Facebook is considered as an identity tool, however twitter is most recognised as a communication tool, and interisting article examining if Twitter or Facebook will become Communication or Identity platform. Click | here to read and interesting article dealing with this issue. It is important to consider that the rise of social networking as a communication medium has implications beyond personal socializing, educational or business networking. Facebook can be considered a valid tool for community groups. Thus, we wonder if this tool would be of help when designing eLearning activities and motivating communication among peers. It would be interesting to analyse this platform as a peer learning tool and how could be introduced in higher education teaching.

title: DITeLearning/Communication Tools


text:
DITeLearning/Resources Analysis

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Resources Analysis
An eLearning environment affords a significant number of technological resources; yet these are continually replaced by more efficient and attractive devices. In the Resources Analysis chapter we will attempt to present the characteristics and ways that these artifacts can be used in eLearning, and to identify the most recent resources available. We have listed primarily the technological resources that are free of charge to the user. This does not however exclude paid options.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Podcasting
Keywords: Podcast, Vodcast, Audacity, iPod, audio devices, PDA's,

Overview: Podcast is a term which relates to downloadable audio files that can be played on a computer, an iPod or other audio devices. Often podcasts are audio recordings of lectures, interviews, product reviews, or even story-telling for children or for the visually-impaired, and occasionally consist of music or a combination of speech and music. Some podcasts now add video (Vodcasts) playable on computers and video-enabled PDAs, iPods, and on other media players.

In some universities - the University of Dublin, Trinity College, for example - Podcast creation software is run on a server. As the lecturer speaks, he or she uses a microphone attached to a laptop with audio recording software running. When the lecture is finished, the lecturer or technician will contact the server and instruct the server to finalise the podcast.

In terms of content and programming, podcasting generally offers more options than a simple radio broadcast - it is a more expedient way of accessing audio files. One can, for example, listen at one's own convenience to a specific selection of content. Podcasting is also a productive and useful way to utilise travelling time. This medium is perhaps best suited to the well-motivated learner, since a lack of focus and inattentiveness can negate its value. To that end, a suitable speaking voice and tonal variation, along with well-structured content, can help maintain focus. Also, from the point of view of an expert in a particular field, it is a much easier and cost-effective means to disseminate expertise through speech, as opposed to paper essays. Podcasts are sometimes supplemented with a discussion forum or website. (Horton 2006, p.60)

Recording Software: Audacity

Technical Issues:

File sizes affect download speeds. A student will not wait indefinitely for a file to download or start playing, which is one of the reasons why institutions 'stream' audio and video. (‘Streaming’ means that the file is continuously downloaded to your machine in approximately 16k blocks.) The first 16k is sent to the user’s machine, and as soon as it finishes a 16k download, it starts playing. As this block is played, the next 16k block is downloaded, and so on until the whole file is played. The servers use buffering to control the downloads and playback. The amount of traffic on the network will determine how smoothly the playback will be. Heavy traffic will cause gaps in the playback, whereas light traffic will give the impression that the file is being played on the user’s machine.

Most audio files are quite large - up to 100 megabytes or more. The most common file format is MP3, which can be generated at different bit rates that determine both the size and quality of the audio. However, this is not the most compressed file format – WMA files, for example, allow for high compression but are not compatible with some systems on the Internet. Thus it may be necessary to convert the file to a different format, which may result in a larger file size. Files of this size can take varying amounts of time to download to a user’s machine, depending on the speed of the Internet connection.

Podcasting Resources:

Podcasting Tools - http://www.podcasting-tools.com Podcast Alley - http://www.podcastalley.com PodcastBunker - http://www.podcastbunker.com Podcasting News - http://www.podcastingnews.com (see https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/VUEUserGuide/)

Articulate Studio

Keywords: Quizmaker, Engage, Multimedia Presentations, Interactive Tutorials, Quizzes, Videos, Audios, Branching, Questionnaires, Annotations.

Overview Articulate Studio enables users to add multimedia to their MS PowerPoint presentations. Once installed, the Articulate software becomes embedded within PowerPoint and allows users to quickly and easily create an effective and imaginative eLearning resource. The Articulate menu will appear on the PowerPoint menu bar, and through its functions it is possible to add a variety of features to PowerPoint presentations. The most important of these features are narration, video, music, and interactive quizzes. In addition, editing audio and video files is made easy. Feedback ""Articulate is exceptionally easy to use, if you know how to use PowerPoint you already know how to use Articulate!” Stuart Warriner, School of Chemistry (University of Leeds).

''“Articulate has allowed my colleagues and me to take existing PowerPoint presentations and record narration. The presentations can then be loaded onto the Nathan Bodington VLE.”'' Roger Shore, Leeds Dental Institute.

''“I think Articulate is good, and the conversion process is quick, and the quality of the converted files is also good - I use not only text but images as well tables and diagrams. Everything is swiftly and accurately converted.” ''Yaman Akdeniz, School of Law (University of Leeds).

Articulate Resources:

A wide range of Presenter online Tutorials are available at: www.articulate.com/products/studio.php

VUE - Visual Understanding Environment

Keywords: Cognitive map, Conceptual graphs, Mind map, Mental model, Knowledge visualization, Topic Maps

Overview: The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. At its core, the VUE is a concept-and-content mapping application, developed to support teaching and learning; furthermore it enables users to organize, contextualize, and access digital information. Using a simple set of tools and a basic visual grammar consisting of nodes and links, faculty and students can map relationships between concepts, ideas and digital content. Below is a screen capture from the VUE website depicting a VUE map.

The advantage in VUE’s slide mode is the presenter’s ability to focus on content (slide view) while preserving the context of the information (map view) by way of a single toggle between the two views. Below is a Screen capture from the VUE website displaying the User Guide page. It comes with an excellently laid out User Guide. At a glance one can see where to go for any required information.

VUE Resource: (http://vue.tufts.edu/)

Video Sharing Website

Keywords: Video sharing website, Youtube, Google Video, Facebook, Yahoo Video.

Overview: A video sharing website is a video hosting service that allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video. The website, mainly used as the video hosting website, is usually called the video sharing website.

YouTube EDU launched in March 2009 containing online lectures from more than 100 colleges and universities. The site lets you browse hundreds of videos by school or you can search by subject. The variety of content is amazing – everything from Advanced Finite Elements Analysis to How to Make Spring Cupcakes.

Watch here a timeline of application of Youtube in elearning. An internal site like this could be fantastic for capturing tribal knowledge in a corporate environment.

RefWorks
RefWorks is your own personalized online account for saving your references from library databases, web searches and any other media: books, newspapers articles, DVDs etc. In a research project you will need to keep a record of hundreds, or even thousands of references. If you are not using RefWorks, you will probably save them in Word documents, in notebooks, or in emails to yourself. This is very time consuming and difficult to manage: think of the all the information you need for a single reference – author names, article title, journal title, page number, URL etc. RefWorks can make all of this a lot easier. RefWorks can directly import references from a number of databases and store them in folders for later use. RefWorks is web-based, so you can access it from any computer with Internet access. It is secure and easy to search. It links directly to the full text of journal articles where available, so you can find them in seconds and you won’t need to save or print them. When writing a paper in Microsoft Word, you can use RefWorks to insert citations. At the end of your paper, RefWorks will create your reference list and bibliography in seconds, correctly formatted in your chosen style (Harvard, MLA, APA etc.). One of the problems with RefWorks is the lag caused by accessing a program over the internet which can slow use. The program also logs you out after a relatively short of time of non-use. However your references are secure and can be accessed from any machine over the internet.

Camtasia Studio
Keywords: Screen video capture, Videocam, Hotkey.

Overview: Camtasia Studio, published by TechSmith, is a screen video capture program for Microsoft Windows. It allows the user to make a video recording of any activity happening on screen.

Camtasia Studio is particularly useful for instruction on how to use computer programmes/applications, because it allows for the sequential steps required to use the programme to be recorded systematically. Not only can the user make a video recording that details each step of deploying the programme, but one can move from one programme to another without interrupting the recording process, which is useful in demonstrating interactivity between programmes.

What makes Camtasia Studio particularly useful is that not only can one record all of the on-screen movements, including those of the mouse, but one can also record in real time the user’s vocal instructions on an audio track, along with the details observed by the computer’s camera. The narration (along with sound effects or music, etc.) may also be overlaid and edited at a later date, an option generally preferred by users as it facilitates flexibility and control. The programme also offers abundant editing possibilities wherein redundant material may be deleted and the more important aspects emphasized.

The use of a hotkey combination to stop recording at any time enables ease of use. At the end of recording, the software submits the captured input and applies the settings selected by the user. The more recent versions of Camtasia provide an option to have the cursor circled whenever the mouse is clicked, thus highlighting and illustrating more clearly the actions of the user.

Camtasia saves and stores files in its own format, and these can only be opened and read by the programme itself. The advantage is that the files are very small in size, even for longer presentations. When the video is completed it can be easily transferred to various common video formats, playable on most computers. Feedback Some criticisms of Camtasia Studio are that the rendering time is too long and that it uses an excessive amount of the system’s resources, particularly in the earlier versions. While Steve Bass of PC World denotes it as ‘powerful’ and as ‘the premier screencasting tool’, he adds that it can be ‘a little overwhelming at the start’, despite the official Camtasia Studio website claim that a six-year old can use it. Additionally the official site refers to the package as being great value for money, whereas Bass comments that ‘At $300 it's certainly not cheap, and it costs $448 with a high-quality lapel microphone and Logitech camera’.

IT Reviews, on the other hand, claims that it produces ‘professional screen tutorials much more convenient than before’.

 * Software:Camtasia Studio
 * Latest release date: 08/2009
 * OS (operating system): Windows
 * Software License: Proprietary
 * Open Source: No

Camtasia Resources: http://www.techsmith.com /camtasia. http://download.cnet.com/Camtasia-Studio

CamStudio
CamStudio is a free alternative to commercially available screencast software such as Camtasia Studio. It lacks many of the features of Camtasia Studio but will quickly and easily capture screencasts and save to avi format. It has been successfully used by students for putting their own presentations together.

CamStudio resources http://camstudio.org/

Adobe Captivate
Keywords: Interactivity, Scenario simulations, Quizzes, LMS (Learning Management Systems).

Overview: Adobe Captivate 4 software provides an industry-leading screen recording and video capture software platform that help create professional-looking video tutorials and effective eLearning experiences. It can rapidly develop and deploy interactive simulations, video tutorials, or screencasts — without requiring user programming or multimedia skills.

Macromedia Captivate is simple to use. Whatever happens on a computer screen (finding and opening up different programmes or applications, entering keywords and searching for articles) is recorded as a series of slides that build up to form a short film. A commentary can be recorded simultaneously to explain the actions taking place on screen. The slides and their commentary can then be edited. It is possible to add text boxes or arrows in order to highlight particular words or areas of the screen and to re-record the commentary should there be any mistakes. The audio files can also be edited to remove unnecessary pauses or deep intakes of breath before a phrase. During the process of creating files/tutorials, it is advisable both to write a script before starting to record and to keep everything lucid, concise and straightforward.

This software can also be used for screencasts, podcasts and to convert Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to the Adobe Flash format.

Captivate supports the import of still images, PowerPoint, video, .flv, and audio tracks onto any Captivate slide and is SCORM compliant.

Feedback: ‘''I haven’t moved on to the latest version yet and I suspect it will still be full of Captivate’s ‘charming idiosyncrasies’. Still, despite the warts you can do an awful lot with it. Great for building complex scenarios – it’s not just for IT system training''’. Rob Hubbard, eLearning architect, UK. ‘''This is the tool I normally use for software screen captures (although I also dabble with Camtasia). The latest version is packed with features''’. Clive Shepherd, Technology-assisted learning consultant, UK. ‘''Best price/performance capture, course creation tool. Waiting for a simulation development tool that does more, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg.''’ Ed Lamaster, Business Systems Analyst for distance learning technologies with Health Net, USA. ‘Expensive but the best of the paid bunch I feel, though Wink’s a good free alternative’. Mary Cooch, Teacher and VLE trainer, UK. ''Both colleagues and students were generally favorable and enthusiastic about this tool. Librarians found it to be valuable as an alternative instructional tool; students found it to be valuable for real-time search assistance, teaching review or technical support.''’ Staff at Texas A&M University Libraries who used Camtasia.

Captivate Resources: www.adobe.com/products/captivate www.youtube.com/watch?v=QawZgic0nzY

FireShot
FireShot is a extension for Firefox and Internet Explorer that captures, edits, annotates, organizes, exports and prints screenshots of your web pages. If you normally uses the PrintScreen buttom to capture a screen image you can't grab the entire webpage because it is longer than the browser window.

This plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify captures and insert text and graphical annotations. Such functionality will be especially useful for web designers, testers and content reviewers. You can, for example, capture a entire page from Google books and print it if you want.

Screenshots can be saved to disk, printed, copied to clipboard, e-mailed and sent to external editor for further processing. A free image hosting web-server is also provided. The most important: FireShot is absolutely free. I you like this, try going to FireShot web page.

title: DITeLearning/Resources Analysis


text:
DITeLearning/Group Work

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Resources Analysis
An eLearning environment affords a significant number of technological resources; yet these are continually replaced by more efficient and attractive devices. In the Resources Analysis chapter we will attempt to present the characteristics and ways that these artifacts can be used in eLearning, and to identify the most recent resources available. We have listed primarily the technological resources that are free of charge to the user. This does not however exclude paid options.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Podcasting
Keywords: Podcast, Vodcast, Audacity, iPod, audio devices, PDA's,

Overview: Podcast is a term which relates to downloadable audio files that can be played on a computer, an iPod or other audio devices. Often podcasts are audio recordings of lectures, interviews, product reviews, or even story-telling for children or for the visually-impaired, and occasionally consist of music or a combination of speech and music. Some podcasts now add video (Vodcasts) playable on computers and video-enabled PDAs, iPods, and on other media players.

In some universities - the University of Dublin, Trinity College, for example - Podcast creation software is run on a server. As the lecturer speaks, he or she uses a microphone attached to a laptop with audio recording software running. When the lecture is finished, the lecturer or technician will contact the server and instruct the server to finalise the podcast.

In terms of content and programming, podcasting generally offers more options than a simple radio broadcast - it is a more expedient way of accessing audio files. One can, for example, listen at one's own convenience to a specific selection of content. Podcasting is also a productive and useful way to utilise travelling time. This medium is perhaps best suited to the well-motivated learner, since a lack of focus and inattentiveness can negate its value. To that end, a suitable speaking voice and tonal variation, along with well-structured content, can help maintain focus. Also, from the point of view of an expert in a particular field, it is a much easier and cost-effective means to disseminate expertise through speech, as opposed to paper essays. Podcasts are sometimes supplemented with a discussion forum or website. (Horton 2006, p.60)

Recording Software: Audacity

Technical Issues:

File sizes affect download speeds. A student will not wait indefinitely for a file to download or start playing, which is one of the reasons why institutions 'stream' audio and video. (‘Streaming’ means that the file is continuously downloaded to your machine in approximately 16k blocks.) The first 16k is sent to the user’s machine, and as soon as it finishes a 16k download, it starts playing. As this block is played, the next 16k block is downloaded, and so on until the whole file is played. The servers use buffering to control the downloads and playback. The amount of traffic on the network will determine how smoothly the playback will be. Heavy traffic will cause gaps in the playback, whereas light traffic will give the impression that the file is being played on the user’s machine.

Most audio files are quite large - up to 100 megabytes or more. The most common file format is MP3, which can be generated at different bit rates that determine both the size and quality of the audio. However, this is not the most compressed file format – WMA files, for example, allow for high compression but are not compatible with some systems on the Internet. Thus it may be necessary to convert the file to a different format, which may result in a larger file size. Files of this size can take varying amounts of time to download to a user’s machine, depending on the speed of the Internet connection.

Podcasting Resources:

Podcasting Tools - http://www.podcasting-tools.com Podcast Alley - http://www.podcastalley.com PodcastBunker - http://www.podcastbunker.com Podcasting News - http://www.podcastingnews.com (see https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/VUEUserGuide/)

Articulate Studio

Keywords: Quizmaker, Engage, Multimedia Presentations, Interactive Tutorials, Quizzes, Videos, Audios, Branching, Questionnaires, Annotations.

Overview Articulate Studio enables users to add multimedia to their MS PowerPoint presentations. Once installed, the Articulate software becomes embedded within PowerPoint and allows users to quickly and easily create an effective and imaginative eLearning resource. The Articulate menu will appear on the PowerPoint menu bar, and through its functions it is possible to add a variety of features to PowerPoint presentations. The most important of these features are narration, video, music, and interactive quizzes. In addition, editing audio and video files is made easy. Feedback ""Articulate is exceptionally easy to use, if you know how to use PowerPoint you already know how to use Articulate!” Stuart Warriner, School of Chemistry (University of Leeds).

''“Articulate has allowed my colleagues and me to take existing PowerPoint presentations and record narration. The presentations can then be loaded onto the Nathan Bodington VLE.”'' Roger Shore, Leeds Dental Institute.

''“I think Articulate is good, and the conversion process is quick, and the quality of the converted files is also good - I use not only text but images as well tables and diagrams. Everything is swiftly and accurately converted.” ''Yaman Akdeniz, School of Law (University of Leeds).

Articulate Resources:

A wide range of Presenter online Tutorials are available at: www.articulate.com/products/studio.php

VUE - Visual Understanding Environment

Keywords: Cognitive map, Conceptual graphs, Mind map, Mental model, Knowledge visualization, Topic Maps

Overview: The Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is an Open Source project based at Tufts University. At its core, the VUE is a concept-and-content mapping application, developed to support teaching and learning; furthermore it enables users to organize, contextualize, and access digital information. Using a simple set of tools and a basic visual grammar consisting of nodes and links, faculty and students can map relationships between concepts, ideas and digital content. Below is a screen capture from the VUE website depicting a VUE map.

The advantage in VUE’s slide mode is the presenter’s ability to focus on content (slide view) while preserving the context of the information (map view) by way of a single toggle between the two views. Below is a Screen capture from the VUE website displaying the User Guide page. It comes with an excellently laid out User Guide. At a glance one can see where to go for any required information.

VUE Resource: (http://vue.tufts.edu/)

Video Sharing Website

Keywords: Video sharing website, Youtube, Google Video, Facebook, Yahoo Video.

Overview: A video sharing website is a video hosting service that allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video. The website, mainly used as the video hosting website, is usually called the video sharing website.

YouTube EDU launched in March 2009 containing online lectures from more than 100 colleges and universities. The site lets you browse hundreds of videos by school or you can search by subject. The variety of content is amazing – everything from Advanced Finite Elements Analysis to How to Make Spring Cupcakes.

Watch here a timeline of application of Youtube in elearning. An internal site like this could be fantastic for capturing tribal knowledge in a corporate environment.

RefWorks
RefWorks is your own personalized online account for saving your references from library databases, web searches and any other media: books, newspapers articles, DVDs etc. In a research project you will need to keep a record of hundreds, or even thousands of references. If you are not using RefWorks, you will probably save them in Word documents, in notebooks, or in emails to yourself. This is very time consuming and difficult to manage: think of the all the information you need for a single reference – author names, article title, journal title, page number, URL etc. RefWorks can make all of this a lot easier. RefWorks can directly import references from a number of databases and store them in folders for later use. RefWorks is web-based, so you can access it from any computer with Internet access. It is secure and easy to search. It links directly to the full text of journal articles where available, so you can find them in seconds and you won’t need to save or print them. When writing a paper in Microsoft Word, you can use RefWorks to insert citations. At the end of your paper, RefWorks will create your reference list and bibliography in seconds, correctly formatted in your chosen style (Harvard, MLA, APA etc.). One of the problems with RefWorks is the lag caused by accessing a program over the internet which can slow use. The program also logs you out after a relatively short of time of non-use. However your references are secure and can be accessed from any machine over the internet.

Camtasia Studio
Keywords: Screen video capture, Videocam, Hotkey.

Overview: Camtasia Studio, published by TechSmith, is a screen video capture program for Microsoft Windows. It allows the user to make a video recording of any activity happening on screen.

Camtasia Studio is particularly useful for instruction on how to use computer programmes/applications, because it allows for the sequential steps required to use the programme to be recorded systematically. Not only can the user make a video recording that details each step of deploying the programme, but one can move from one programme to another without interrupting the recording process, which is useful in demonstrating interactivity between programmes.

What makes Camtasia Studio particularly useful is that not only can one record all of the on-screen movements, including those of the mouse, but one can also record in real time the user’s vocal instructions on an audio track, along with the details observed by the computer’s camera. The narration (along with sound effects or music, etc.) may also be overlaid and edited at a later date, an option generally preferred by users as it facilitates flexibility and control. The programme also offers abundant editing possibilities wherein redundant material may be deleted and the more important aspects emphasized.

The use of a hotkey combination to stop recording at any time enables ease of use. At the end of recording, the software submits the captured input and applies the settings selected by the user. The more recent versions of Camtasia provide an option to have the cursor circled whenever the mouse is clicked, thus highlighting and illustrating more clearly the actions of the user.

Camtasia saves and stores files in its own format, and these can only be opened and read by the programme itself. The advantage is that the files are very small in size, even for longer presentations. When the video is completed it can be easily transferred to various common video formats, playable on most computers. Feedback Some criticisms of Camtasia Studio are that the rendering time is too long and that it uses an excessive amount of the system’s resources, particularly in the earlier versions. While Steve Bass of PC World denotes it as ‘powerful’ and as ‘the premier screencasting tool’, he adds that it can be ‘a little overwhelming at the start’, despite the official Camtasia Studio website claim that a six-year old can use it. Additionally the official site refers to the package as being great value for money, whereas Bass comments that ‘At $300 it's certainly not cheap, and it costs $448 with a high-quality lapel microphone and Logitech camera’.

IT Reviews, on the other hand, claims that it produces ‘professional screen tutorials much more convenient than before’.

 * Software:Camtasia Studio
 * Latest release date: 08/2009
 * OS (operating system): Windows
 * Software License: Proprietary
 * Open Source: No

Camtasia Resources: http://www.techsmith.com /camtasia. http://download.cnet.com/Camtasia-Studio

CamStudio
CamStudio is a free alternative to commercially available screencast software such as Camtasia Studio. It lacks many of the features of Camtasia Studio but will quickly and easily capture screencasts and save to avi format. It has been successfully used by students for putting their own presentations together.

CamStudio resources http://camstudio.org/

Adobe Captivate
Keywords: Interactivity, Scenario simulations, Quizzes, LMS (Learning Management Systems).

Overview: Adobe Captivate 4 software provides an industry-leading screen recording and video capture software platform that help create professional-looking video tutorials and effective eLearning experiences. It can rapidly develop and deploy interactive simulations, video tutorials, or screencasts — without requiring user programming or multimedia skills.

Macromedia Captivate is simple to use. Whatever happens on a computer screen (finding and opening up different programmes or applications, entering keywords and searching for articles) is recorded as a series of slides that build up to form a short film. A commentary can be recorded simultaneously to explain the actions taking place on screen. The slides and their commentary can then be edited. It is possible to add text boxes or arrows in order to highlight particular words or areas of the screen and to re-record the commentary should there be any mistakes. The audio files can also be edited to remove unnecessary pauses or deep intakes of breath before a phrase. During the process of creating files/tutorials, it is advisable both to write a script before starting to record and to keep everything lucid, concise and straightforward.

This software can also be used for screencasts, podcasts and to convert Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to the Adobe Flash format.

Captivate supports the import of still images, PowerPoint, video, .flv, and audio tracks onto any Captivate slide and is SCORM compliant.

Feedback: ‘''I haven’t moved on to the latest version yet and I suspect it will still be full of Captivate’s ‘charming idiosyncrasies’. Still, despite the warts you can do an awful lot with it. Great for building complex scenarios – it’s not just for IT system training''’. Rob Hubbard, eLearning architect, UK. ‘''This is the tool I normally use for software screen captures (although I also dabble with Camtasia). The latest version is packed with features''’. Clive Shepherd, Technology-assisted learning consultant, UK. ‘''Best price/performance capture, course creation tool. Waiting for a simulation development tool that does more, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg.''’ Ed Lamaster, Business Systems Analyst for distance learning technologies with Health Net, USA. ‘Expensive but the best of the paid bunch I feel, though Wink’s a good free alternative’. Mary Cooch, Teacher and VLE trainer, UK. ''Both colleagues and students were generally favorable and enthusiastic about this tool. Librarians found it to be valuable as an alternative instructional tool; students found it to be valuable for real-time search assistance, teaching review or technical support.''’ Staff at Texas A&M University Libraries who used Camtasia.

Captivate Resources: www.adobe.com/products/captivate www.youtube.com/watch?v=QawZgic0nzY

FireShot
FireShot is a extension for Firefox and Internet Explorer that captures, edits, annotates, organizes, exports and prints screenshots of your web pages. If you normally uses the PrintScreen buttom to capture a screen image you can't grab the entire webpage because it is longer than the browser window.

This plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify captures and insert text and graphical annotations. Such functionality will be especially useful for web designers, testers and content reviewers. You can, for example, capture a entire page from Google books and print it if you want.

Screenshots can be saved to disk, printed, copied to clipboard, e-mailed and sent to external editor for further processing. A free image hosting web-server is also provided. The most important: FireShot is absolutely free. I you like this, try going to FireShot web page.

title: DITeLearning/Group Work


text:
Category:Animals

Animals are a major group of organisms, classified as the kingdom Animalia. This category includes animals, their study, and their classification.

title: Category:Animals


text:
DITeLearning/Teaching Philosophy

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Why A Teaching Philosophy For E-learning?
In discussing the need for a teaching philosophy of elearning, it may be important not to confuse the process of sharing information with the process of teaching. They are entirely separate mechanisms, even though they can appear to be identical because of the shared functionality of the website platform. As an illustration, if I simply hand a book to someone, then I am technically sharing information, but am I teaching? The book may contain all the content the student requires, but I have given no guidance as to how that content relates to the student’s needs. The ‘medium and the message’, while related, are not identical.

Establishing an open source wiki that is designed for networked learning is not in itself an educational process. If anyone in a learning community can create and edit content, the system of learning and knowledge creation can quickly settle into simple forms of thinking, such as recollection of facts and knowledge, rather than higher order thinking skills of analysis and interpretation. In order for Higher Order Thinking Skills to be integrated into any wiki, a system of learning should preferably be incorporated into the design of that wiki. This system is a philosophy that orders information based on educational principles, not web design—in other words, a pedagogical design that combines a philosophical design for learning and the physically-designed process of learning.

Two assumptions can be made about almost any elearning community. Those participating share a common interest, and they want to learn together both as a group and from within the group. In order to facilitate this goal, the content that appears on the wiki should be relevant and have a shape, and achieving that necessitates filtering and organising that content, so that the wiki becomes an effective form of knowledge management based on a recognition of the participants’ cognitive processes.

To sum up: Knowledge filtering and management should reflect a systematic approach based on educational principles that go beyond the physical design of elearning platforms. Such an approach can be guided, if not formulated, through a teaching philosophy.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this project. If you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

For examples of Teaching Philosophy Statements please go to:

http://ucat.osu.edu/portfolio/philosophy/elizallen_phil.htm

title: DITeLearning/Teaching Philosophy


text: Category:Eukaryotes

title: Category:Eukaryotes


text:
DITeLearning/Accessibility

Home | Learning Theories | Instructional Design | ePortfolio | Storyboard | Wiki Analysis | Communication Tools | Resources Analysis | Group Work | Teaching Philosophy | Accessibility | Evaluation | Glossary

Introduction
Products and services, including documentation, should be easy for everyone to use. Content can also be created to maximize accessibility for people with disabilities. For example, printed documentation should be made available in accessible formats for users who have difficulty handling or reading conventionally printed materials. A format most commonly used is XML. HTML is also acceptable if it follows accessible design guidelines.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this chapter the learner will be able to:
 * 1) Understand the importance of accessibility in your learning object.
 * 2) Understand which the items you have to provide to became your learning object accessible.
 * 3) Understand how to evaluate your learning object to fill with the accessibility norms.

We would appreciate if you give us your contribution in this chapter. Also, if you have any query, suggestion or feedback, don't hesitate to contact us sending a message to our email: wikiresourcesgroup@gmail.com

Accessibility Appendix

 * In both online and printed documentation, every product should include an appendix describing features and services that can aid persons with disabilities. Each appendix describes accessibility options available in the product or from other sources, such as recording for the blind. This appendix makes it easier for users with disabilities to use products, raises public awareness of the available options, and demonstrates a company’s commitment in this area. Include this appendix as a Help topic and in the printed book most likely to be the first one opened.

Accessible Web Page

 * Keep in mind that not only do people with various kinds of disabilities need information from your Web site, but so do people using various kinds of browsers, who have graphics turned off, or who may not have the latest technical wizardry. The guidelines given here are brief reminders. You can find more details about the rationale for these guidelines and some ways to accomplish them on these web sites:

 * 1) Web Accessibility Initiative
 * 2) MSDN Accessibility
 * 3) Center for Information Technology Accommodation

Perceivable

 * 1. Provide alternatives text for non-text content.
 * Consider what the page looks like or sounds like when the images are not shown. Then write for each image an alt text that best works as a replacement.
 * If the image is purely decoration then use an empty alt tag.
 * For short simple descriptions of less than 50 characters, for example 'pie chart showing 80% of sales are overseas' enclose the text in quotation marks.
 * For images that are merely described, for example, 'this is a pie chart' enclose the text in square brackets to delineate it from the rest of the general text.
 * For images which need to be described in detail you will need to link the alt tag to a separate web page describing this. Some types of links often work best if the link text is accompanied with an image.
 * Instead of using two links pointing to the same destination, it is best to make them one link, using markup like the following:  linktext.
 * An important reason for using a single link instead of two links is that when the user tabs from one link to another, redundant links make the use less convenient. Moreover, if there are two links, the question easily arises whether they really point to the same resources. :Note that the alt attribute should have an empty value, since the image is "redundant".

 * 2. Provide captions and alternatives for audio and video content:
 * Make content adaptable; and make it available to assistive technologies.
 * Use sufficient contrast to make things easy to see and hear: do not use colour coding alone.
 * Use additional cues, such as textual annotations or the underlines.
 * Alternatively, use patterns as well as colours to indicate different types of information in charts and graphs.
 * Avoid hard-to-read colour combinations, such as red and green or light green and white. People with some types of colorblindness may have difficulty seeing the differences between the colors.
 * Avoid screened art. Contrasting black and white is easiest to read. Especially avoid text on a screened background, which is difficult to see and for a machine to scan. For the same reason, avoid shaded backgrounds and watermarks or other images behind text.
 * Avoid printing text outside a rectangular grid. People with low vision may have difficulty seeing text outside of an established grid. Try to keep text in a uniform space for both visibility and scannability.

Operable

 * 1) Make all functionality keyboard accessible
 * 2) Give users time to read and use content
 * 3) Do not use content that causes siezures
 * 4) Help users navigate and find content

Accessible Writing
To enhance the accessibility of Web pages for people who use screen readers, follow these guidelines: ~Always provide alt text for nontext elements, including graphics, audio, and video. For simple elements, a brief but accurate description is enough. Use an asterisk (*) or the word “bullet” for bullets, not a description such as “little blue ball.” Leave blank information about invisible placeholders. For more complex elements, provide a link to a separate page with more details. Standard toolbar, or in the title bar, is also included. Directional terms are also acceptable when a sighted user with dyslexia can clearly see a change in the interface as the result of an action, such as a change in the right pane when an option in the left pane is clicked.
 * 1) Provide text links in addition to image maps.
 * 2) Write link text that is meaningful but brief. Do not use phrases such as click here. Use links that can stand alone in a list. Use the  tag to distinguish links and names in image maps from ambiguous or duplicate text.
 * 3) Make link text distinct. Use redundant visual cues, such as both colour and under-line, so colour blind users can identify link text.
 * 4) Plan links and image map links so that navigation with the TAB key moves from left to right and top to bottom, not randomly.
 * 5) If you use frames, provide alternate pages without them.
 * 6) If you use tables, provide alternate pages without them. Make sure that tables make sense when read from left to right, top to bottom. Note that Internet Explorer versions 3 and 4 have some different and strict requirements.
 * 7) Provide closed captions, transcripts, or descriptions of audio content.
 * 8) Avoid using scrolling marquees. Accessible Writing  Many of the following suggestions for maximizing accessibility also help make documentation clearer and more useful for everyone:
 * 9) Provide clear, concise descriptions of the product and initial setup, including a section or card that gets the user up and running with the basic features.
 * 10) Keep the number of steps in a procedure short. Individuals with cognitive impairments may have difficulty following multistep procedures. Keep the steps simple, and keep the reader oriented.
 * 11) Keep sentence structure simple. Try to limit most sentences to one clause. Individuals with language difficulties and those who speak English as a second language, as well as some people who are deaf or hard of hearing, may have difficulty understanding long, complicated sentences.
 * 12) Provide descriptions that do not require pictures, or that include both pictures and writing. Using only diagrams causes difficulty transcribing to other media. To test whether the writing is effective, try removing, one at a time, first the words and then the pictures. With only one method, can you still figure out what to do?
 * 13) Avoid using directional terms (left, right, up, down) as the only clue to location. Individuals with cognitive impairments might have difficulty interpreting them, as do blind users relying on screen-reading software. A directional term is acceptable if another indication of location, such as in the Save As dialog box, on the
 * 1) Emphasize key information and put it near the beginning of the text. Use bullets or headings to additionally emphasize important points.
 * 2) Keep paragraphs short or otherwise create small sections or text groupings.
 * 3) In product documentation, document all keyboard shortcuts. A two-column format, in which the first column describes the user task and the second column describes the shortcut, is best. That way, users with screen readers can hear the task before they hear the keyboard shortcut. #Organize keyboard shortcuts in task groupings so related shortcuts appear close together.

Accessible Graphics and Design
It is possible to work within the requirements of standard design templates to make written content as visually accessible as possible. For example, use short paragraphs and break up long passages of text with subheadings. Follow these guidelines for visually accessible documents:
 * 1) Do not use colour coding alone. Use additional cues, such as textual annotations or the underlines. Alternatively, use patterns as well as colours to indicate different types of information in charts and graphs.
 * 2) Avoid hard-to-read colour combinations, such as red and green or light green and white. People with some types of colorblindness may have difficulty seeing the differences between the colours.
 * 3) Avoid screened art. Contrasting black and white is easiest to read. Especially avoid text on a screened background, which is difficult to see and for a machine to scan. For the same reason, avoid shaded backgrounds and watermarks or other images behind text.
 * 4) Avoid printing text outside a rectangular grid. People with low vision may have difficulty seeing text outside of an established grid. Try to keep text in a uniform space for both visibility and scannability.

title: DITeLearning/Accessibility


text: Category:Organisms

title: Category:Organisms