The end of something is always the beginning of something else!

This is the last week of the online course. Concerns regarding the ability to cope and the potential difficulties were erased when I realized the application aspects were really fun exercises. The focus of keeping it a hands-on course remained true. Here are my thoughts regarding my learning experiences over the past 12 weeks:

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "If you travel the whole world to find the beautiful, you must carry it with you or you find it not." I felt that I have discovered another dimension of teaching and learning that I know is beneficial but did not explore it. I have finally set up a blog, learned to contribute to a wiki, learned to use facebook, learned how to tag articles, learned how to podcast, learned how to aggregate things, etc. It most likely that half the world has already done it. It is not only the knowing about them but also learning about the uses and their availability.

I think I have found the "beautiful" aspect of elearning that I know exist and have finally come around to using it as a result of this course. I feel that I am in a better position to further design training sessions for new and current academic staff. I am looking forward to the different ways I can use these tools for my Educational Psychology course in May 2009. The planning, implementation, and measurement of the measures I will take will definitely be something I need to work on in 2009.

Now, I cannot dismiss the benefits of using these tools for learning. I cannot say that it is too time consuming without thinking about the benefits. I cannot say that I do not know what they are. I know abou them and have learned them. Now, I must use them.

Twitter

Hi Everybody

Here is my twitter account http://twitter.com/irenetan I discovered that two of my hotmail friends are already on twitter. Interesting. I have already invited a few of my friends to join in the Tweeter Twitter. I hope they don't "mutilate" me when they find out. I am thinking of either using the Blog or Twitter to keep in touch with a group of academic staff I will be meeting at the end of November.

Ciao

Online Videos

The task of searching for online videos for teaching purposes has become much easier with institutions such as MIT and Yale providing access to their teaching and learning materials online. Educators have a plethora of online resources to choose from. Honestly, it is not difficult to search for it.

I have seen some Biology professors sharing their work online. Publishers have started supplementary teaching materials for textbooks. The decision about using videos and audios resources of course rests with the instructor or educator. It is important that using these online resources cannot be something left to chance. This exercise must be intentional - this means we need to design our teaching for students' learning with online resources and do it in a manner that will benefit them. So, what do we need to do?:

1. Look through the syllabus and determine the topics that may already have online resources out there.
2. Intentionally feature it in your classroom teaching.
3. Use a learning platform/your blog to feature it.
4. Get students to view it again later to reinforce learning.
5. Design quizzes/assignments around it.

I am not teaching this semester but I have my regular training sessions for academic staff. One of the videos I really like is Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture." It is so motivational for educators. I talked about it in one of my sessions but I did not show the video. I will do so in future training sessions.

When I closely examine his dedication to the learning of his students, I am reminded of the primary reason most of us became educators. He talks about his childhood and the way his parents allowed him to be himself. He chronicled his passion to learn and his motivation to make things happen for him and his students. He described the successes of his students and their accomplishments. What a guy! Randy passed away in July 2008 of cancer. Sometimes we just need to hear the same passion and motivation from someone else. Then, we get back on the track of doing the best that we can in what we do. Here is the link to Randy's last lecture.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

Creating a Podcast - Another New Experience

In my recent post I mentioned taping interviews using SoundForge thinking that it was the coolest thing ever to learn. I wonder where my learning moments have gone to. Then comes learning about using Audacity. I asked myself, "What else is out there?" It was fun recording my thoughts regarding the recent annual management meeting (UCSI Summit). My immediate concerns were whether I was articulate and clear (You see voice comes through very nasalized through recordings). I was sort of satisfied that I was coherent (so signs of intoxication - joking!) and clear.

Recording one's thoughts and sharing it in a public domain is new to me because I am not sure who will be listening to it. It is different from presenting a paper at a conference where your life audience can provide feedback. All in all - I feel like a Gen Y Kid because of these experiences.


Link Only
RSS
Image

iTunes

Taping Interviews

I've started a research project on the transition of international students and decided to collect data in New Zealand at an institution where I knew I could easily gain access. I was looking for something that I could use other than the conventional tape recorder (I did my dissertation qualitatively and used this tool). I asked around and was told that I could use Sound Forge. A friend helped to download this tool into my laptop and all I had to do was just placed it on the desk. I thought using the laptop may be distracting but it wasn't so at all. It seemed so natural to have a laptop on the table.


I was like a kid given a new toy to play. I realized that I need to intentionally learn these new techie tools so that my own work can be easily facilitated. Now, I have been exposed to Audacity and what a name! I really feel that there is so much that I can look forward to in 2009 when I start redesigning some of my programs and its delivery. For example - I have inserted a new training session for the new lecturers called "Using Blogs for Teaching and Learning." I am looking forward to using Audacity for a project next year.


So, it is full steam ahead for me.


Classmates of Emergent Tech from UCSI - How will you use what you have learned for your teaching in 2009?



Ciao

Pyschological Benefits

The need for cathartic releases to help manage our inner being is captured in this article. According to this article, people who blog can eventually learn to become more confident as they can share their thoughts and more often than not with people who are like-minded. This cyber space social networking helps people connect in virtually.

Question - Will the same level of confidence be there in face-to-face situations?


http://www.bloggersblog.com/cgi-bin/bloggersblog.pl?bblog=308081

Leading by Example

The article on Leading by Example by Christy Tucket highlighted a very pertinent issue about professionals in education leading the change process to encouraged students to learn through new literacies such as social media and informal learning. The importance of lifelong learning is crucial.




http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/leading-by-example/