One thing that goes handing in hand with learning is studying. After graduating high school, I attended college for two years. I remember that every so often I would get together with some classmate in a study group. Sometimes they were productive, sometimes they were not. Some did not last very long while others were all-nighters. What ever the case, there was some good that came out of these study groups.
While forming e-study groups might be new to some, it basically follows the pattern of traditional study groups; getting people together at a particular time, in a particular place, to study a particular subject. With e-studying, the particular place is taken care of, online, so all that is left to decide is the time and the subject.
Two ideas could be an impromptu type that would meet one time or an ongoing group meeting at the same time a during the week. One could, if ambitious enough, attend a number of study groups in a week.
The key is getting people together. Time is always an issue. Often students live in different time zones so this will be a limiting factor.
Obviously the study session would be conducted synchronously; this might be a new experience for some online learner;.there are some e-learners that conduct learning in a totally asynchronous fashion. Today there are many tolls that can be used to conduct the session. If forming a study group, it would be well to list any software or hardware requirements needed, such as a videocam.
Here are some interesting tools:
Second Life
http://secondlife.com/
Skype
http://www.skype.com/download/skype/windows/
Google Docs
http://docs.google.com/?pli=1#folders
This will help students collaborate and share notes and other things.
There are a lot of other tools out there some free some not free. Just like regular study groups, e-learning groups can be a great social network environment. They can be both fun and productive with the right combinations of people and tools.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
How do you learn?
The questions is how do you learn, not how well do you learn? If you know how you learn there is a good chance that you learn rather well. Some people will be quick to say that they do not learn very well, or at least as well as they would like to or hope to do. Most of the time they would improve their learning potential if they knew how they learned.
Here is a short assessment to help you understand how you learn. There are many other assessments like this that can be found on the web, but they are basically the same as far as the out come, that is, understanding how you learn.
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Understanding how you learn is important. It will help you find and utilize those learning tools that will maximize your learning potential. I am a visual learner. As a mater of fact, I have a very high propensity towards visual learning. This explains, to some degree, why I did not do very well in high school and college in the late 70s. When I joined the military in the early 80s, I did rather well because they used multimedia and computer base e-learning for about 60% of my training in aviation electronics. This also explains, in part, why some people do not do well with e-learning class environments.
There will always be those that do well in conventional style learning environments and there will be those that do better in e-learning based learning environments. So it comes down to, how do you learn? If you understand how you learn, and then pursue those learning tools that fit your learning profile, chances are you will maximize your learning potential. If you have been struggling with learning you might be using learning tools that do not maximize your learning potential.
Here is a short assessment to help you understand how you learn. There are many other assessments like this that can be found on the web, but they are basically the same as far as the out come, that is, understanding how you learn.
http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Understanding how you learn is important. It will help you find and utilize those learning tools that will maximize your learning potential. I am a visual learner. As a mater of fact, I have a very high propensity towards visual learning. This explains, to some degree, why I did not do very well in high school and college in the late 70s. When I joined the military in the early 80s, I did rather well because they used multimedia and computer base e-learning for about 60% of my training in aviation electronics. This also explains, in part, why some people do not do well with e-learning class environments.
There will always be those that do well in conventional style learning environments and there will be those that do better in e-learning based learning environments. So it comes down to, how do you learn? If you understand how you learn, and then pursue those learning tools that fit your learning profile, chances are you will maximize your learning potential. If you have been struggling with learning you might be using learning tools that do not maximize your learning potential.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Will e-learning replace teachers?
Some people speculate that e-learning will replace teachers. This could not be further from the truth. It would be like saying that books will replace teachers or the need for them. Like books, e-learning is a tool that enhances the learning process. Before printed books, much of learning was through word of mouth and hands on training. If anything was written down, these copies were very limited.
Even after the printing press was developed, books were for a long time scarce. Today there are thousands of libraries with thousands and thousands of books in them. Books and libraries have not endangered the teaching profession. But books and libraries have greatly enhanced the learning process.
Today we are undergoing another revolution (or evolution) in the learning process, e-learning. In the e-learning environment there are electronic-books and other multimedia based content that resemble books. Also there are millions of websites that act as virtual libraries with content on just about any subject imaginable. In fact the World Wide Web is a vast virtual library in this sense. It is hard not to find content on a subject if ones looks hard enough on the Web.
Just as teachers guide students through text books and other learning content, teachers guide students trough e-content. E-learning in some ways has made learning easier. It has also made independent learning and research easier. E-learning is not the menace to teaching as some may think it to be but actually it is developing into a vital asset in the learning process. Today through e-learning a student is able to learn more in less time.
As long as there are students, there will always be a need for teachers.
Even after the printing press was developed, books were for a long time scarce. Today there are thousands of libraries with thousands and thousands of books in them. Books and libraries have not endangered the teaching profession. But books and libraries have greatly enhanced the learning process.
Today we are undergoing another revolution (or evolution) in the learning process, e-learning. In the e-learning environment there are electronic-books and other multimedia based content that resemble books. Also there are millions of websites that act as virtual libraries with content on just about any subject imaginable. In fact the World Wide Web is a vast virtual library in this sense. It is hard not to find content on a subject if ones looks hard enough on the Web.
Just as teachers guide students through text books and other learning content, teachers guide students trough e-content. E-learning in some ways has made learning easier. It has also made independent learning and research easier. E-learning is not the menace to teaching as some may think it to be but actually it is developing into a vital asset in the learning process. Today through e-learning a student is able to learn more in less time.
As long as there are students, there will always be a need for teachers.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Upgrades
Sorry about the lact of content of late but I am in the process of upgrading my computer system.
Hopfully I will be back on track early this week.
I will be looking at the sujbect "will e-learning replace teachers?"
Hopfully I will be back on track early this week.
I will be looking at the sujbect "will e-learning replace teachers?"
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Is e-learning better then conventional learning?
The right way to approach this is by answering the question “Is it better for me” or “is it better for the student”? Much of this depends on the learning style of the person using the lesson. There will always be some people that will not do very well when using e-learning methods.
Is e-learning better for me in terms of the availability of quality material?
In the past people traveled to learning centers in search of good quality learning. Today on-line learning has literally brought good learning centers to a person’s home. Many top quality learning centers, not only in the U.S. but around the world, offer online degree programs. There are also a host of other types of e-learning lessens and courses, such as for elementary and high school students, and also for the corporate sector. In some instances, e-learning has all together replaced conventional learning methods. Will e-learning totally replace conventional methods? Probably not, but we do see a growth in the blending of e-learning with conventional methods. While there is lot of good e-learning material out there, unfortunately there is a lot of poor material out there too.
Is e-learning better in terms of cost?
One can spend a lot of money on higher education and basically get a piece of paper that is worthless. The value of education is not just in the monetary funds that are spent in pursuit of the education but in the value and ROI. This basic principle hold true for both conventional and e-learning endeavors. Often e-learning is streamlined and only concentrates on key concepts. Since time is money, this can translate in to some real savings. But this will only be realized if the learner is able achieve their educational goal. Today many organizations encourage and promote their workers to pursue educational goals; often they fund some or all of the cost. E-learning has opened the door to many fulltime workers to pursue advanced training and education. In this sense the cost saving is realized in a saving of time; the time it would take to attend a conventional class compared to learning at home.
E-learning is only better then conventional learning is the sense that it meets the needs of the student.
Is e-learning better for me in terms of the availability of quality material?
In the past people traveled to learning centers in search of good quality learning. Today on-line learning has literally brought good learning centers to a person’s home. Many top quality learning centers, not only in the U.S. but around the world, offer online degree programs. There are also a host of other types of e-learning lessens and courses, such as for elementary and high school students, and also for the corporate sector. In some instances, e-learning has all together replaced conventional learning methods. Will e-learning totally replace conventional methods? Probably not, but we do see a growth in the blending of e-learning with conventional methods. While there is lot of good e-learning material out there, unfortunately there is a lot of poor material out there too.
Is e-learning better in terms of cost?
One can spend a lot of money on higher education and basically get a piece of paper that is worthless. The value of education is not just in the monetary funds that are spent in pursuit of the education but in the value and ROI. This basic principle hold true for both conventional and e-learning endeavors. Often e-learning is streamlined and only concentrates on key concepts. Since time is money, this can translate in to some real savings. But this will only be realized if the learner is able achieve their educational goal. Today many organizations encourage and promote their workers to pursue educational goals; often they fund some or all of the cost. E-learning has opened the door to many fulltime workers to pursue advanced training and education. In this sense the cost saving is realized in a saving of time; the time it would take to attend a conventional class compared to learning at home.
E-learning is only better then conventional learning is the sense that it meets the needs of the student.
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