Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Monday, 24 June 2013
Easy steps to livelier e-Learning
Jakob Nielsen’s research suggests that people read 25% slower from a computer screen than from paper. So, write 50% less text.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Guardian.co.uk - Do online courses spell the end for the traditional university?
Guardian.co.uk - Do online courses spell the end for the traditional university?
Two years ago, I sat in the back seat of a Toyota Prius in a rooftop car park in California and gripped the door handle as the car roared away from the kerb, headed straight towards the roof's edge and then at the last second sped around a corner without slowing down. There was no one in the driver's seat.It was the prototype of Google's self-driving car and it felt a bit like being Buck Rogers and catapulted into another century. Later, I listened to Sebastian Thrun, a German-born professor of artificial intelligence at Stanford University, explain how he'd built it, how it had already clocked up 200,000 miles driving around California, and how one day he believed it would mean that there would be no traffic accidents.A few months later, the New York Times revealed that Thrun was the head of Google's top-secret experimental laboratory Google X, and was developing, among other things, Google Glasses – augmented reality spectacles. And then, a few months after that, I came across Thrun again.The self-driving car, the glasses, Google X, his prestigious university position – they'd all gone. He'd resigned his tenure from Stanford, and was working just a day a week at Google. He had a new project. Though he didn't call it a project. "It's my mission now," he said. "This is the future. I'm absolutely convinced of it."The future that Thrun believes in, that has excited him more than self-driving cars, or sci-fi-style gadgets, is education. Specifically, massive online education free to all. The music industry, publishing, transportation, retail – they've all experienced the great technological disruption. Now, says Thrun, it's education's turn."It's going to change. There is no doubt about it." Specifically, Thrun believes, higher education is going to change. He has launched Udacity, an online university, and wants to provide mass high quality education for the world. For students in developing countries who can't get it any other way, or for students in the first world, who can but may choose not to. Pay thousands of pounds a year for your education? Or get it free online?University, of course, is about so much more than the teaching. There's the socialising, of course, or, as we call it here in Britain, drinking. There's the living away from home and learning how to boil water stuff. And there's the all-important sex and catching a social disease stuff. But this is the way disruptions tend to work: they disrupt first, and figure out everything else at some unspecified time later.Thrun's great revelation came just over a year ago at the same TED conference where he unveiled the self-driving car. "I heard Salman Khan talk about the Khan Academy and I was just blown away by it," he says. "And I still am." Salman Khan, a softly spoken 36-year-old former hedge fund analyst, is the founding father of what's being called the classroom revolution, and is feted by everyone from Bill Gates (who called him "the world's favourite teacher") down.The Khan Academy, which he set up almost accidentally while tutoring his niece and nephew, now has 3,400 short videos or tutorials, most of which Khan made himself, and 10 million students. "I was blown away by it," says Thrun. "And frankly embarrassed that I was teaching 200 students. And he was teaching millions."Thrun decided to open up his Stanford artificial intelligence class, CS221, to the world. Anybody could join, he announced. They'd do the same coursework as the Stanford students and at the end of it take the same exam.CS221 is a demanding, difficult subject. On campus, 200 students enrolled, and Thrun thought they might pull in a few thousand on the web. By the time the course began, 160,000 had signed up. "It absolutely blew my mind," says Thrun. There were students from every single country in the world – bar North Korea. What's more, 23,000 students graduated. And all of the 400 who got top marks were students who'd done it online.
Two years ago, I sat in the back seat of a Toyota Prius in a rooftop car park in California and gripped the door handle as the car roared away from the kerb, headed straight towards the roof's edge and then at the last second sped around a corner without slowing down. There was no one in the driver's seat.It was the prototype of Google's self-driving car and it felt a bit like being Buck Rogers and catapulted into another century. Later, I listened to Sebastian Thrun, a German-born professor of artificial intelligence at Stanford University, explain how he'd built it, how it had already clocked up 200,000 miles driving around California, and how one day he believed it would mean that there would be no traffic accidents.A few months later, the New York Times revealed that Thrun was the head of Google's top-secret experimental laboratory Google X, and was developing, among other things, Google Glasses – augmented reality spectacles. And then, a few months after that, I came across Thrun again.The self-driving car, the glasses, Google X, his prestigious university position – they'd all gone. He'd resigned his tenure from Stanford, and was working just a day a week at Google. He had a new project. Though he didn't call it a project. "It's my mission now," he said. "This is the future. I'm absolutely convinced of it."The future that Thrun believes in, that has excited him more than self-driving cars, or sci-fi-style gadgets, is education. Specifically, massive online education free to all. The music industry, publishing, transportation, retail – they've all experienced the great technological disruption. Now, says Thrun, it's education's turn."It's going to change. There is no doubt about it." Specifically, Thrun believes, higher education is going to change. He has launched Udacity, an online university, and wants to provide mass high quality education for the world. For students in developing countries who can't get it any other way, or for students in the first world, who can but may choose not to. Pay thousands of pounds a year for your education? Or get it free online?University, of course, is about so much more than the teaching. There's the socialising, of course, or, as we call it here in Britain, drinking. There's the living away from home and learning how to boil water stuff. And there's the all-important sex and catching a social disease stuff. But this is the way disruptions tend to work: they disrupt first, and figure out everything else at some unspecified time later.Thrun's great revelation came just over a year ago at the same TED conference where he unveiled the self-driving car. "I heard Salman Khan talk about the Khan Academy and I was just blown away by it," he says. "And I still am." Salman Khan, a softly spoken 36-year-old former hedge fund analyst, is the founding father of what's being called the classroom revolution, and is feted by everyone from Bill Gates (who called him "the world's favourite teacher") down.The Khan Academy, which he set up almost accidentally while tutoring his niece and nephew, now has 3,400 short videos or tutorials, most of which Khan made himself, and 10 million students. "I was blown away by it," says Thrun. "And frankly embarrassed that I was teaching 200 students. And he was teaching millions."Thrun decided to open up his Stanford artificial intelligence class, CS221, to the world. Anybody could join, he announced. They'd do the same coursework as the Stanford students and at the end of it take the same exam.CS221 is a demanding, difficult subject. On campus, 200 students enrolled, and Thrun thought they might pull in a few thousand on the web. By the time the course began, 160,000 had signed up. "It absolutely blew my mind," says Thrun. There were students from every single country in the world – bar North Korea. What's more, 23,000 students graduated. And all of the 400 who got top marks were students who'd done it online.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Monday, 9 January 2012
eLearning Technology: Flash Dead for eLearning
eLearning Technology: Flash Dead for eLearning: I've been warning about this since January 2010 in Still No Flash , and called it out further as the signs became more serious in May 2010 w...
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Friday, 12 June 2009
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
The use of ontologies in personalised e-learning
Recently, we had very beneficial and interesting "e" Teaching and Learning Workshop 2009 in The University of Greenwich. I would like to share my poster posting that I have published there.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Google Wave
Here is the good example of simplicity. As collaboration really matters today, Google make it much more simpler and easier. Now, you have more freedom on your communications and you can take most of the actions with only one click. Isn't this simple? It is coming later of this year. http://wave.google.com/
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
How to Prepare a Proper Scientific Poster Presentation
This article on eHow.com gives useful tips for preparing a scientific poster presentation for conferences or workshops. It explains the required issues clearly in 6 steps.
How to Prepare a Proper Scientific Poster Presentation | eHow.com
Shared via AddThis
How to Prepare a Proper Scientific Poster Presentation | eHow.com
Shared via AddThis
Monday, 18 May 2009
Blackboard's iPhone Application
Blackboard has introduced an iPhone Application to allow students to easily access their courses. By using mobile learning opportunities students can login their institution’s Blackboard platform any time, anywhere. They can get updates, assignments tests and other course information via this app. This is a good example of using iPhone for learning and teaching.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
OLAT - The Open Source LMS
Online Learning And Training (OLAT), the web-based open-source Learning Management System (LMS) based on Java and completely free of charge.
OLAT is IMS Learning Impact Award 2009 finalist. OLAT was chosen as a finalist for the IMS Learning Impact Award 2009. On Monday, May 11th 2009 at 5pm Joël Fisler will present OLAT in Barcelona at the IMS Learning Impact conference.
The development of OLAT started in 1999 at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. They have announced latest OLAT 6.1 release. Certainly the most important new feature is: clustering!
OLAT supports eLearning standards such as SCORM, IMS Content Packaging or QTI.
OLAT is IMS Learning Impact Award 2009 finalist. OLAT was chosen as a finalist for the IMS Learning Impact Award 2009. On Monday, May 11th 2009 at 5pm Joël Fisler will present OLAT in Barcelona at the IMS Learning Impact conference.
The development of OLAT started in 1999 at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. They have announced latest OLAT 6.1 release. Certainly the most important new feature is: clustering!
OLAT supports eLearning standards such as SCORM, IMS Content Packaging or QTI.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
University 2.0
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
University 2.0
View more presentations from Chris Sparshott.
Friday, 1 May 2009
From Blackborad to Moodle
If you want to move from Blackboard to Moodle, you can use the following tools to migrate all of your courses and users:
bFree - Blackboard™ Course Content Extractor
Blackboard to Moodle Conversion Tool
bFree - Blackboard™ Course Content Extractor
Blackboard to Moodle Conversion Tool
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Call for e-learning writers.!
The eLearning Guild is looking for writers for Learning Solutions e-Magazine.It includes sharing strategies, techniques, best practices, and case-studies for the management, design, development, and delivery of e-Learning, Learning Solutions e-Magazine™ offers insightful articles written by your fellow Guild members from around the world. Each issue is rich with practical ideas, advice, and solutions for solving your e-Learning challenges.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Tips on writing papers
Recently, I have read an article about writing papers. Firstly, it mentioned about some general encountered problems on paper writing including badly written, poorly constructed or focuses on a topic that is parochial, overanalysed or long past its sell-by date. Also, fail to address the major theoretical issues, take far too long to get to the point or of “conclusions" that do not arise from what has gone before.
A few extra tips from Simon Lygo-Baker (King's College London):
•Rejection by leading journals is the norm, so get used to it (but listen to any concrete criticism)
•Do not "waste" too many good ideas in a single article.
•Book reviewing is a good way to get a writing career up and running, but be careful who you criticise.
•You don't have to include an invented word and a colon in the title of every journal article.
A few extra tips from Rowena Murray (University of Strathclyde and author):
•Use writing to develop, rather than just document.
•Always keep in mind and make explicit where your "original contribution" lies.
•Learn to overcome your inner editor. Fight the temptation to stop and find references for everything as you write.
•Defer the quality question: rough drafts are meant to be rough.
A few extra tips from Simon Lygo-Baker (King's College London):
•Rejection by leading journals is the norm, so get used to it (but listen to any concrete criticism)
•Do not "waste" too many good ideas in a single article.
•Book reviewing is a good way to get a writing career up and running, but be careful who you criticise.
•You don't have to include an invented word and a colon in the title of every journal article.
A few extra tips from Rowena Murray (University of Strathclyde and author):
•Use writing to develop, rather than just document.
•Always keep in mind and make explicit where your "original contribution" lies.
•Learn to overcome your inner editor. Fight the temptation to stop and find references for everything as you write.
•Defer the quality question: rough drafts are meant to be rough.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Create games for learning
There are various tools that allow you to create games such as:
Adventure Maker:
An innovative toolkit that allows you to create point-and-click games and virtual tours for Windows, iPhone, and iPod touch.
Game Maker:
Allows you to make exciting and professional looking computer games in very short period of time without the need of writing even a single line of code.
LearningWave:
Has all types of learning games for educational and corporate use.
Adventure Maker:
An innovative toolkit that allows you to create point-and-click games and virtual tours for Windows, iPhone, and iPod touch.
Game Maker:
Allows you to make exciting and professional looking computer games in very short period of time without the need of writing even a single line of code.
LearningWave:
Has all types of learning games for educational and corporate use.
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Open Learning Commons combines elements of Blackboard and Facebook
Open Learning Commons combines elements of Blackboard and Facebook - News
"The love child of Blackboard and Facebook has a name - the Open Learning Commons.
The new platform prototype, launched by the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, allows interested people within and outside the Penn community to participate in classroom activities from the Web.
The first class covers global environmental sustainability and combines coursework with social networking."
"The love child of Blackboard and Facebook has a name - the Open Learning Commons.
The new platform prototype, launched by the College of Liberal and Professional Studies, allows interested people within and outside the Penn community to participate in classroom activities from the Web.
The first class covers global environmental sustainability and combines coursework with social networking."
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