Student collaboration

Web 2.0 tools are making the distance disolve between online students. We are fortunate that we have the available resources to collaborate together without actually being together.

Because students learn from each other, it's critical to facilitate communication. I have been teaching a class on how to verify income using tax returns for the last couple of weeks. The students always end up collaborating at their tables to get the solution. I encourage this. By combining their respective experience and knowledge they all learn more.

If the right tools are used, I'm starting to think that there are only a few subjects left that can't be taught asynchronously online.

Open Educational Resources

I just got done browsing MIT's open course ware site. Wow! I looked mostly at the literature courses and was impressed by all of the free resources, from readings and books to supplementary resources and syllabuses. Looking at the required assignments should spark ideas to be applied in individual teaching settings. I wish I had many more hours in the day to use these resources for my own learning...maybe after I finish this MEd degree!
I would hope to see more institutions use this approach to improve teaching and learning. Having access to a variety of resources, being able to add to and modify the content, would allow teachers to individualize instruction for their students in more cases.
That would be a good thing for all.

Evaluating e-learning

There is more that goes into evaluation than looking at the post-test in the e-learning environment. More important than knowing something new is being able to do something new or in an improved way. Hands-on practice is key to cementing new learning.

Measurement of new skills cannot always be shown in a quantitative manner. There are benefits of "intellectual capital" that are more qualitative in nature. This is the difficulty of evaluation.

Presentations

I'm very excited to begin viewing presentations on distance education tools. It's so much easier for me to understand a demonstration as opposed to reading instructions. Having a peer explain it also means that they will be able to cut to the really important features and leave out those details that aren't as useful.

My hope is that ideas will be generated of how to use these tools effectively in our jobs/teaching.

Web 2.0

I'm appreciating more and more the value of interaction in education. Many times when people discover I'm taking online classes, they say "I couldn't take online classes. I need to be in class and ask questions to understand."

I feel like I can ask questions and interact with my classmates and professors through the Web 2.0 technologies that are used. These tools shift education to being learner-centered and less teacher-centered.