SUMMARY

Blogging is interesting. However, when I am overloaded with work in school, blogging too became a burden to me. Now, I guess I am ok.
Blogging actually created a passage for me to explore more on the certain topic discussed in class besides giving my own reflection. When we share our views with others, it helps us learn more and acquire more knowledge.

2 or 3 most meaningful things I learnt in this class

1 Technology has really made every field especially the field of education to progress tremendously. It has made the teaching and learning environment so interesting and meaningful. It has provided an interactive means of learning. Besides, it develops independent learning whereby students explore themselves for better understanding with the guidance of the instructor.
2 Technology has enabled education to be made accessible to everyone. All a person needs is a computer with a proper internet connection and education will be made available to them. It made me realize that technology enables a wider scope of students to obtain information at a lower cost.
3 The class has also taught me that the participation of an instructor/teacher alone is not sufficient in a learning environment. Learning involves the participation of both the educator and the learner. Only then will a student be able to enjoy what is being taught and at the same time has a better understanding of it.
4 Instructional design is very important in distance learning. This is because the will be no face-to-face teaching and learning that will be done. Instruction should be given clearly and in detail in order to ensure that students are clear in knowing what are they committing themselves in.

What will you do with the knowledge cultivated from this class?

1. I will no longer put priority to the chalk and talk method of teaching although it is simpler. The involvement of both myself and my students will be encouraged in each lesson as to make learning more innovative, creative and easier to understand.
2. I would try to follow all the required steps in preparing for a particular lesson. That would ensure that a proper planning is behind each lesson. It would enable me to indicate to myself my own weaknesses and strengths to eventually overcome it.

Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Tee and the class for their shared knowledge and guidance throughout the time I spend with them in the semester.

E-poster and module prototype

It was a good presentation done by five groups on that day.

It was an eye opener for me when Dr Tee led the first group’s presentation. The questions he posted to the group made me realize about our (Hema & me) own flaws that we have done.

When the other groups presented theirs, and when all the rest of us started questioning the particular group we actually learn a lot. I actually got to know better on the things that we should consider when a DE program is being designed.

Thanks to Dr Tee and the other groups.

Technologies in Distance Education

It was a good presentation. However Zamiah’s presentation through MMS seems to be long and that made me as a learner to lose attention.

Nowadays, technologies are not only used in distance education but also in F2F learning environment.What I learnt from this presentation is that education can be carried out successfully no matter it is a distance learning environment or F2F learning environment. What is important is that the instructional strategy must be clear and whatever modes used to transfer the learning must be flexible, available to everyone and user friendly.

Technologies being advanced from day to day are an advantage for all fields including education. It has made us realize the importance of education as it has been made the access to learning easier for everyone.

For further reading:
http://www.usq.edu.au/users/taylorj/readings/4thgen.htm

Benchmarks and Best Practices in Distance Learning

A good presentation even though it was quite a difficult topic.

It has been defined that Benchmark is the process used in management in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to the best practice, usually within their own sector.

As it is, my understanding is that every organization should have their own benchmarks in order to achieve their targeted goal. Without benchmarks, we may not be able to evaluate ourselves and our goals.

Besides that, the discussion session was good and interesting. It made me understand better about the new Wiki. There were things like the history and discussion that can be viewed and done in the wiki.

Instructional Strategies in Distance Learning

Sorry for the delayed post.

I have learnt that Instructional strategies in distance learning are very important. The instructor must really make sure that the instruction given is clear to the learners. This is again because we do not meet face to face to make things clear as in a traditional classroom. In a traditional classroom, students who have doubts can easily refer to the teacher for clarification and they will receive the answer immediately compared to distance learning.

For further information refer to:-

http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/02_35.pdf
http://www.ettc.net/techfellow/distance/strategy.htm

Evaluation

Hema and myself was given this topic for our presentation. At the beginning we had alot of question to ponder about. However, we made up our decision to do evaluation on the DE program after consulting Dr Tee. We did quite a number of readings and drafts.

Eventhough, teaching is my proffession i still felt very nervous on tha day of our presentation. Getting the attention from the class, making sure they understand and thinking whether our presentation will be interesting made me had butterflies in my stomach.

However, when we were done, they were some kind of relieve. Thanks to our class who co-operated well during our presentation.

The New Wiki

The New Wiki
I was in total lost at the beginning of the semester when our class started off with wiki. However, the new wiki that Dr Tee has started with has really enlightened me. Thanks to Dr Tee. It has been set in a way whereby it moves from one step to the other at a time. I feel this is much more simpler and easier.

What do you think of the new “how people learn” wiki?
I feel the new wiki is appropriate especially for beginners like me. It has actually thought me how to use wiki. About the activities, it is based on all the levels in blooms taxonomy and it was easy for me to move around as it was well structured. The videos too have helped me in my understanding.

What help you learn?

The things that help me learn is listening to lecturers, discussion with friends and try doing things myself. When I get involve myself I understand better. Besides that, taking short notes makes me to be more alert.

What gets in the way of your learning?

Well, if I am not ready or prepared or if I am exhausted, it really gets in the way of my learning. These things will make me feel uncomfortable. Besides that if I have zero knowledge on a particular topic, than this too gets in the way of my learning.