Sunday, August 29, 2010

Wk4 Udutu Project - Collins_Tamara


Click here to go to my UDUTU.


I decided to create a writing course for 6th grade students. The UDUTU goes through the six steps of the writing process. You can click on the watermark to make it go away.

I really enjoyed this project because this is something I could truly use in the classroom. This year we have a ton of new teachers whom have never taught before, so I figured with a bit more tweaking I can modify it to make it completely fit our students. The new teachers can get an idea on how we teach the writing process.

http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launcheval/22191/Course39868/Launch.html

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Week 4 LMO Comments for Justin Kraky


"For my UDUTU lesson, I chose a project created in Musical Theory and Educational Applications. This lesson was designed for the Advanced Audio Production class at Keystone College, and teaches audio physics principles and terminology."

Justin,

Beautiful job on your UDUTU! It was clean, easy to follow and interesting. This is something I would love to your show some of our high school students. This is the type of lesson that can easily be shown as an opening to a Unit Plan.

http://publish.myudutu.com/published/evaluations/22103/Course39892/v2010_8_28_13_59_0/course/course39892.html

Week 4 LMO - Collins, Tamara_Wimba Session Notes


First and foremost I want to say the LMO class has been incredibly beneficial to my Action Research project. It has given the information necessary to become familiar with online learning and its future.

Joe, in the Wimba session you said that we should be careful that we don't make the UDUTU or videos so long that the student becomes disengaged. That was exactly my thought. I was concerned about this because initially I thought I would create the UDUTU for the writing process as an additional resource to be used at home, but then I decided that it could be used in the computer lab as an opening lesson and an initial run through for them.

Another thing that stood out for me in the Wimba session was the point of completing the project in its entirety. You are correct in saying that if the project is not completely done I probably will not complete it later. I would say that I can see myself tweaking this to meet the needs of the students at my school, personalizing it for them to allow them to grasp the material.

Wk4 Project: Future Report

Week 4 LMO Comments for Sharon Jones



"As we begin a new school year, it is my task train the new teachers on the use of our LMO, Edline and GradeQuickWeb. Due to some major cutbacks in staffing this year, everyone is covering more classes and extra curricular duties, making the scheduling of training very difficult."

Sharon,

I really like how detailed your UDUTU project is. You really give the learner all of the information necessary to be successful. I also like the assessment you used to see if the learner is grasping the content. My favorite of your UDUTU is the part where you ask the learner to place the steps of the GradeQuickPro in the proper order.

Very nice job!

http://publish.myudutu.com/published/evaluations/22008/Course39972/v2010_8_28_5_24_48/course/course39972.html

Week 4 LMO Comments for Erica Culbreath



"I must admit, I have wanted to check out Udutu for at least a year. I remember stumbling upon it as I was googling open source applications. Of course, I sent the link to all of my instructional designer friends as I was so amped about this free tool. I figured we could work with Udutu during our free time. While no one I know seriously has free time, I was glad to come into month 10 to work with Udutu. Somehow I started with a very basic concept but ended with plenty of detail, as I continued to add more and more slides and ideas to the module."

http://lms.myudutu.com/LMSGadget/courses/lms/22187/Course39857/2425/v2010_8_28_12_6_7/course/Course39857.html


Erica,

You did a very nice job on your UDUTU. It was very well put together and easy to follow. This is something I would most definitely recommend teachers use in the high school classroom.

It seems that many of us begin with a simple concept, but end up adding a lot of details the more into we get.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

LMO Week 3 Comments for Joseph Andrieux


“The cost for the LMS can range from $250,000 to $1 million based on hardware being replaced and most importantly support and training to be provided to the school's staff and student body.”


Joseph,

The cost for LMS is staggering, but what I am most fascinated sometimes with is the fact that many times educational institutions do not provide the adequate training for staff and students. It’s always amazing how even in some schools where the money is a available for great technology administrators fail to hire the person who would keep abreast of new technology and trains the teacher in using the software and hardware effectively within their curriculum.

LMO Week 3 Comments for Jeff Kohls

"
Media technology that is being used in schools and institutions of higher learning has been highly developed and now allows for a virtual view of every content that is studied. Those studying biology can virtually dissect a frog, anatomy students can delve inside the human body without touching a cadaver, geographers can fly to remote places and track the last surviving member of an indigenous tribe by using real-time satellite imagery and geographic information systems, and architects can electronically design their buildings and make changes instantaneously. Medical students can learn how to prepare a patient for examination without entering a doctors office. The market has come to the student, as opposed to the student going to the market."



Jeff,

I would definitely agree with you that the future is looking incredibly exciting for students through media technology. I truly believe that our world is becoming smaller and smaller and this means a great deal for educators and students. With the proper technology platform and passion a teacher can bring the 7 Wonders of the World right to their classroom, exposing their students to so much more than what a book can offer.

Collins_Tamara_Week 3 LMO - CMS Directions with E-learning and Beyond


As corporations and educational institution continue to try and meet the demands of their employees and students the future of content management systems and e-learning take on new directions. Companies and educational institutions are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of tailoring to the needs of the individual. Numerous trends have emerged in the CMS world and continue to evolve.

According to the Learning Management Organization & Systems (LMO, 2010) class on Full sail Online there are six trends currently making its way in e-learning. The trends range from web 2.0 tools to cloud computing to online applications. Each trend is serving a very crucial purpose within educational realms.

A 2005 report by Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) mentioned a study done by the Pew Internet and the American Life Project in 2003. According to the study 70 percent of college students played computer, video, or online games at least once, and 65 percent reported being regular or occasional game players (2005). This leads me to wonder if a high number of students can dedicate such a large amount of time to gaming how incredible would it be to influence students through gaming, but with an educational objective.

After doing a little more research on e-Learning and Personal Learning Environments (PLE’s) I came across an article written by Graham Attwell author of e-learning papers. The article mentioned that the development and support for Personal Learning Environments would entail a radical shift, not only in how we use educational technology, but in the organization and ethos of education. According to the article personal learning environments provide more responsibility and more independence for learners (2007).

There is no doubt that our world is becoming smaller. It can be safely said that many of us have education at our fingertips and companies, government and educational institutions are taking advantage of that. Humans cannot be replaced by technology, but educational technology can reach that child or adult in the most remote corner of the earth.

Attwell, Graham. (2007). Personal learning environments: the future of elearning?
Retrieved August 20, 2010, from
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/files/media/media11561.pdf

Bonk, C & Dennen, V. (March 2005). Advanced distributive learning. Massive
multiplayer online gaming: A research framework for military training and
education. Retrieved from http://www.adlnet.gov/SiteCollectionDocuments/archive/GameReport_Bonk_final.pdf

Image of fiber optic eye retrieved August 22, 2010, from http://wallpapers.free-
review.net/12__The_Eye_of_future.htm

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Week 2 Project - UDUTU


1. Collins, Tamara

2. Prior Project Selected: The Writing Process: It's as Easy as 123

3. One of the struggles that many students entering the 6th grade face is the basic organization of the writing process. The Flash was created to help students brainstorm their writing ideas and begin the actual writing.

4. EMDT Class created in- Digital Media and Education Applications - April 2010

5. Initial Appraisal of Udutu Scenario: - Lesson will show the student how to complete each step of the writing process, beginning with the brainstorming phase and ending with the 6th step, publishing the writing. Each step of the writing process will be explained per the appropriate section of my UDUTU. Along with the explanation of the steps students will be given an opportunity to perform each task. For example if they are in the pre writing portion of the writing process they will select a topic and then they will be given the opportunity to brainstorm it.

Ultimately once each portion is completed the end result will be a 3-5 paragraph essay students can use in their classrooms.

6. Location/URL: http://web.me.com/tamarapariscollins/Site_3/Additional_Projects.html

LMO Week 2 - Comments for Karen Williams


“The effectiveness of a tool is not that it exist but that it causes your organization to work in a more proficient and efficient environment. Therefore, allotting funds to manage the system is essential to its success.

One would think to create a virtual learning system like LMS or CMS is simply transferring or reorganizing data into a template. On the contrary, analysts say that Learning Management Systems are investments ranging from $500,000 to millions of dollars. “



Karen,

Wow! I knew that the cost of fully integrating technology or creating a new learning platform could be very expensive, but $500,000 to millions? I honestly would not have thought it could be so extravagant.

On the flip side of that... I do believe it is a crucial necessity for many companies and educational institutions to create learning systems like the LMS or CMS, especially when the common goal is as you said in your writing, allowing the company to work in a more proficient environment and efficient environment.

LMO Week 2 - Comments for John Harvey


“(Added 8-12) I am skeptical of SCORM, because as we discussed last night in our Wimba session, each new generation of technology seems to devour the previous one. How would the model be usable in a newer generation of management systems? How would the content of the RLOs not need to be updated with constantly changing variables (regulations, for example)? A standard for the industry is a great idea, but updates in packaging the content are an inevitability.”


John,

I totally agree with you. I am also skeptical of SCORM. You are correct in asking the question, " How would the model be usable in a newer generation of management systems?" With a society/generation that is constantly evolving is it really possible to keep from changing the RLO's?

I like the way your broke down the information to allow the reader a deeper understanding of the terms. Nice job!

Collins_Tamara_Week 2 LMO - Learning Content Management Systems: An Understing


Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) are fast becoming a way for training individuals within corporations as well as some educational institutions. It allows for authoring, publishing, and managing learning content (Nichani, 2001). The LCMS can create instant Reusable Leaning Objects or RLO’s to satisfy the needs of the learner. For example companies can foresee the needs of what the employee (learner) will need and create a new course required to train them on a new product, which may launch in the near future (Nichani, 2001).

LCMS can also be customized to fit what the learner may need. Rather than attending an all day training session the LCMS is designed to allow the learner what is necessary or what they need. Along with catering to the needs of the learner they are also able to customize their learning experience through the LCMS (Nichani, 2001).

According to the article LCMS Round Up it is crucial to understand the differences between the Learning Management System (LMS), the Content Management System (CMS) and the LCMS. The article described the LCMS as combining the learner administration capabilities of an LMS with the content creation and storage capabilities of a CMS (Ellis, 2001). LCMS can be considered a very powerful system because it deals with the learning content (Perry, 2009).

After reading the articles on LCMS I immediately thought about a system my school has been using called PowerSchool. It not only allows the teachers to view tutorials on how to accomplish specific things, but it allows the administrators to input what they feel the teacher needs. For example if the administrator foresees that the teacher needs additional support in setting up their grade books they can then tailor the database to include more tutorials on grade books.


References


Ellis, Ryaan K. (2001). LCMS round up. Retrieved August 12, 2010, from
http://web.archive.org/web/20071012195821/http://www.learningcircuits.org/200
1/aug2001/ttools.htm

Nachani, Maish. (2001). LCMS = Lms + cms (rlos). Retrieved on Augus 12, 2010, from http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/lcms_lms_cms_rlos/

Perry, Bill. (2009). Training professionals gain agility and power from LCMS
technology. Retrieved August 13, 2010, from
http://www.astd.org/lc/2009/0309_perry.html

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Collins_Tamara_Week 1 LMO Overview Project

I truly believed that online learning was simply just online learning. There was just one way to do it, not truly understanding that there were several forms of learning with various acronyms to describe it. The video I created showcases what I have learned after watching Dr. Gibson's two-part video.


Gibson, I. (2010). Week 1 wimba session. Proceedings of the Week 1 wimba session, http://fullsail.wimba.com

LMO Week 1 - Comments for Dana Kohls


"McGee et al. (2004) explains that a need for assessment goes beyond the need to asses tools. Careful attention should be paid to assessing the needs of the instructors using the CMS, assessing what the learner finds valuable, how leadership in the institution will find the resources to support the costly endeavor of a CMS, in addition to what other resources or programs will need to be cut as a requirement of the CMS. "


Dana,

This is a very interesting article. It seems that it always comes down to being able to properly afford the system. Assessing the needs of the instructor is incredibly important not only with CMS, but with just about any technology that is integrated into educational institutions. The article touches on the fact leaders must find sources to support the costly endeavor of a CMS, in addition to what other resources or programs will need to be cut as a requirement of the CMS. This is crucial in order for any program to survive. Many times schools such as mine order incredible equipment, but fail to train the teachers on how to properly use it.

Nice job on your post.

LMO Week 1 - Comments for Christian Legere


"However, as many of us have previously discussed in various blog posts and course assignments throughout the year, there are still many in both the public and professional spheres who are skeptical about online education. Recently, as schools like the University of Pheonix and other for-profit institutions (which rely significantly online resources) have come under federal scrutiny, I've found myself having to defend our program more than ever. While "defend" is probably too harsh a word to accurately describe some of these conversations, it is a shame that all too often online education is trumpeted merely as a convenient and time-saving option for learning."

Scott,

Like Sharon, I to agree that there are many people whom are incredibly skeptical of online education. I must say I was once one of the people. I think the biggest misnomer is that people believe that online education is easy. Easy? I think not. It has proven to be quite challenging and has even allowed many of us to form great professional allies. Like both you and Sharon I am now a supporter of online programs and find myself often "defending it."

Monday, August 2, 2010

Week 1 Reading - Article 2: Learning Platforms and their Relevance



Learning platforms have been in existence for many decades. Of course with the change in times the learning platforms have changed to accommodate the student and educator. As society continues to evolve so will our systems of learning. Two of the learning platforms established by several educational and corporate institutions are the Content Management System (CMS) and the Learning Management System (LMS).

Learning Management Systems (LMS) describes software, which is designed to manage user-learning interventions (http://Wikipedia.com). They are not the emblematic form of teaching rather web based programs used to facilitate learning beyond the realms of one location (http://Wikipedia.com). Within corporations LMS’s are also integrated with other application solutions used by human resources and accounting, enabling management to measure the impact, effectiveness, and over all cost of training initiatives (Ellis, 2009).

CMS’s or Course Management Systems is closely related to LMS’s and is a system most often used by educational systems. The CMS is an Internet-based software that manages student enrollment, tracks student performance, and creates and distributes course content (theJournal, 2004). A common CMS is the popular site Blackboard. Moodle is another example of CMS and LMS as well as known as a Virtual Learning Environment. It’s a software package that manages Internet-based courses and websites (http://www.moodle.org).

References:

Ellis, R. (2009). What A field guide to learning management systems. Retrieved on August 5, 2010 from
http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/12ECDB99-3B91-403E-9B15-7E597444645D/23395/LMS_fieldguide_20091.pdf.

Moodle. (2010). What is moodle? Retrieved on August 4, 2010 from http://moodle.org/about/.

theJournal. (2004). Course management systems and reinvention of instruction. Retrieved August 5, 2010 from
http://thejournal.com/articles/2004/10/01/course-management-systems-and-the-reinvention-of-instruction.aspx.

Wikipedia. (2010). Virtual learning environment. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_learning_environment