Wk4_Project_The_Future_Report

References
Getting Ready for Web 3.0. AOL Discover. Retrieved September 25, 2010 from
http://daol.aol.com/articles/get-ready-for-web3?icid=main%7Cmain%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk3%7C172863

W3C (n.d.) W3C Semantic Web Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved September 18, 2010 from
http://www.w3.org/RDF/FAQ

Wk4_Response to Eric Hanson_UdutuProject

Eric,
It’s not always easy to change horses in the middle of the stream; however, you seem to be making strong headway. Your website is clear and very informative and its navigation is simple. Your Udutu module can easily serve as a formative assessment for students.

Nice work.

Wk4_Response to Karmiko Burton_Udutu Project

“Well I finally got a chance to experience UDUTU. I've heard a lot about it, read articles explaining it's benefits and was excited to work in it. I use a host of e-Learning authoring tools: Articulate, Captivate, Camtasia, Adobe and a few out-of-use tools. I expected my experience with UDUTU to be seamless. Well, that didn't quite happen. The server locked up a few times (maybe because so many people were online making modules) and the system was a little clunky.”

What a relevant topic. Cyber safety is relevant in all contexts but probably nowhere as pressing as in the corporate world.

Your tips are clear to understand and simple to implement. I especially appreciated your Cyber thief. He definitely is an attention getter. Nice job.

Wk4_Response to Terrance Davis_Udutu Project

“My Udutu experience was thought provoking and fun all at the same time. Expect for the browser problem with Firefox browser. I used comic life software to make it more visually appealing to my audience. I created a slide show and several assessments to aide in the understanding of my subject matter student advocacy. You make click along to control the speed of my slide show if it goes to fast for you the read it. Followed by several assessment multiple choice test. I must say the concept is a cool idea but the it gets a little hectic when trying to post a video because it gets truncated so I did not get to use it.”

I thoroughly enjoyed and agree with the message, be a change agent for the arts. Your use of Comic Life was an appropriate choice. I thought about using that, but found something in PowerPoint that related to music. Keep up the fight for the arts.

Week4_Udutu_Project

Initially, I was excited by the prospect of what Udutu could provide. I was anticipating a high learning curve, but it wasn’t. To the site’s credit, review the tutorial and mapping the course is simple,. Populating the screens is a nightmare. Unfortunately, a number of the applications, like importing entire PowerPoint presentations, do not seem to accept the applications. In addition, when adding media, like music, it doesn’t play in the previews. There’s no indicator that the media’s been exported with the course content and therefore, one assumes the media is not there.

The work required to make the course interactive is enormous. Populating each screen, except the assessments, is a project.

My link:
http://lms.myudutu.com/LMSGadget/courses/lms/22942/Course41976/2594/v2010_9_26_6_26_51/course/Course41976.html

Clark_Irene_New CMS Direction: Collaborate It. Interface It.

Whether it is stay at home moms driving the technology market demand instead of 13-year olds, or corporations and institutions attempting to exert more control over the Internet and its interactive tools (Web 2.0), or health care professionals having their clinicals or internships directly and immediately interfaced with learning outcomes and assessed via a PDA or cellular phone, collaboration and interfacing are driving the future of technology.

Although Shirky’s (2005) initial commentary on institutions and collaboration is a bit dated, the concept that one can allow people to remain where they are and bring the problem to them is a concept that continues to morph via various social networking sites beyond Flickr. Reintroducing corporate or institutional control seems counterproductive. Corporations purport to avidly pursue cost reducing avenues and outsourcing, through collaboration and interfacing, seemingly is one way to do it.

According to the website, Future W3C Semantic, establishing a common framework that shares data and reuses it across applications, enterprise, and community boundaries is the future of Web 3.0. This effort collaborates data and appears to be a logical sequence to Web 2.0 tools.

Shirky, C. (2005). Clay Shirky on institutions vs. collaboration. Retrieved September 19, 2010 from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/clay_shirky_on_institutions_versus_collaboration.html


W3C (n.d.) W3C Semantic Web Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved September 18, 2010 from http://www.w3.org/RDF/FAQ

Response to Jeinine Urquiza

"So why am I thinking of the Jetsons this lovely September day? Because of Rosie, the Jetson's robot maid who has all of the abilities described in this week's reading. But, instead of replacing the housekeeping profession, ITS seeks to replace the teacher with computer software."

Jeinine,
Your use of Rosie is an excellent example of making a personal connection with the text. A strategy I teach my students. May I Screenflow this post and use it as a model?

Back to the subject. Although we’ve discussed this in our posts, teacher vs. computer, if area of learning might seem appropriate for artificial intelligence, the military would be it. The K-12 classroom still does not fit the bill for a computer replacing the teacher.

Response to Laura Williams

"As a tech connoisseur I am always very keen to learn about cutting edge technologies that will eventually become the new standard. Naturally, I gravitated most to the Reading 11 activities -- New Directions in CMS. This subject also has practical application for me in my work environment where we are struggling to source a new way of leveraging our disparate technology solutions so that the information housed in them may be integrated, aggregated, and accessed throughout the organization. We need an enterprise platform that can enable this initiative and I am leading the early stages of needs assessment and looking at solutions that will best fulfill those needs. The new Semantic Web protocol is exactly the kind of solution we need and I was delighted to see that there were already some tools commercially available that provide this functionality. I intend to explore them further!"


Laura,
I like your choice of words as to what this will do for the average Internet user, “infuse with logic.” As I was reading the information on Web 3.0, I was making more personal connections and what “logic” or interface or collaboration with data could provide to an individual about trends in one’s life (e.g. the most amount of money spent juxtaposed with your appointment/personal calendar. Obviously, similar applications can be used for business and education.

Wk2 Project Udutu Setup

1. Clark, Irene

2. The Song in a Word - The lesson is designed to use a topic students are both familiar with and engaged in, music, and demonstrate the similarity of a song’s structure, beginning, middle, and end, to that of a word and its parts, affixes.

3. Created In: Musical Theory & Education Applications – June 2010.

4. After a student is introduced the types of affixes and understands their functions, it becomes a matter of practicing deconstructing a word to unlock its meaning. For this I chose the Self-Directed Assessment.

5. http://web.me.com/clarki1/Site/Movie_2.html

Response to Brian Cross

“One of the key goals of every business is to maximize profit with low cost. This ideology is also true with educational institutions, where the primary objective is to increase productivity with minimal cost. As the school becomes more productive, the student population will increase (theory).”

Brian,
Given the costs outlined in Kruse’s article, I can understand an organization’s decision to create their own LMS or go in a different direction. However, I think as these systems gain popularity and become more commonplace, the cost of implementation will decrease.

Response to Kelli Erwin's Post

"In the realm of education, funding and budgets have become tighter than ever before. Regardless of the budget issue some school districts are opting to use an LMS or CMS for course content delivery. Many virtual schools have been implemented at the high school level in an effort to provide optional learning environments for students. The benefit that outweighs the cost of the LMS/CMS is that students are charged a fee for taken these virtual courses."

Kelli,
I hadn't heard of students being charged to take virtual classes. Florida has a virtual school and students in grades 6-12 enrolled in any Florida school district can complete one or all of his/her courses on line--free.

As I read the articles, I was thinking that in a few years the cost would decrease as its use becomes more common. Public education will be forced to utilize some form of a LMS to keep itself competitive with charter schools, which are serving an increasing number of students of public education.

Clark_Irene_Course Management Systems Versus Learning Management Systems: Finally, Made Clear!

Carliner (2005) provides the clearest explanation of the difference between a Course Management System (CSM) and a Learning Management System (LMS) thus far. The article’s external and internal text structure greatly assist the reader to understand the distinctions between the design purposes of a CMS and a LMS.

Using a different color to signal transition to an important heading and delineating the points with bullets as opposed to text helps to significantly distinguish those characteristics that constitute a CMS, whose design purpose is to support academic classroom course, include:
• Ability to place course material online, including syllabus, course material schedules, lessons, etc.,
• Track student progress by providing assessments: tests or quizzes or electronic gradebooks, and,
• Discussion boards
Those characteristics that constitute a LMS, whose design purpose is corporate training, include:
• Registration,
• Aggregated reports,
• Transferability of data to other systems,
• Process charges for courses and,
• Skills management

The whole-to-whole comparison and contrast format is reinforced by a chart that contrasts the differences between systems. For example, LMS offer enrollment, automatically generated confirmation notes, course catalog, and skills management. CMS do not. To further clarify the differences between LMS and CMS, Carliner (2005) offers an explanation as to why the systems cannot interchange intended users.
He contends:
“…Because education and training are different types of learning activities, the systems that support them are essentially different. As education is intended to build long-term knowledge, the CMSs that support it are designed to support long-term academic classroom classes. In contrast, as training is intended to build knowledge for immediate application, so LMSs are designed to support a large number of short training events.”

Given the direct and indirect costs associated with launching a CMS or LMS (Kruse, 2004) it is prudent for an organization to know its strengths and weaknesses and find or design a program that meets the needs of the company.

References

Kruse, K. Measuring the total cost of e-learning. E-Learning Guru.com Retrieved September 12, 2010 from
http://online.fullsail.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=assignment.main&itemId=223158

Sauliner, C. (2005). Course management systems versus learning management systems. Learning Circuits. Retrieved September 12, 2010 from
http://online.fullsail.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=assignment.main&itemId=223158

Week 1 Project - LMO Overview

Bay District Schools has recently incorporated Moodle into its overall district system. Moodle is a Course Management System. It’s a CMS because it allows teachers to manage students and the course.

I turned on the editing feature. It allows me to add another resource, like a link to a Web page or a file. It also allows me to add an activity, quiz, survey, or Wiki. I’m able to assign roles to students, teachers, or allow for guests.

Moodle allows me to keep track of grades, averages, group students or show ranges. As a CMS, the Moodle platform allows me to manage my course and students by providing them with information on upcoming events. I’ve chosen to use a calendar format versus an event format. This is an example of a CMS. Let’s move on to a Learning Management System (LMS).

SuccessMaker (SM) is an example of a LMS. It is an eLearning platform for a school. This is a software program at our school. It’s a LMS because it understands individual learners and skill levels. Through SM you can set up registration for the course by and it performs diagnostics and will place the student in a tailored learning program.

For example, in the 8th grade demo the lesson example focuses on denotative and connotative meanings. Depending on how the student performed on the diagnostic, SM would place the student at a particular level in the program. From there, they would move through the program. SM is also adaptive in that if the student is not fairing well at that placement then the program moves them to a lower level. SM advises the learner and the teacher of student’s readiness to move on to another skill or level.

Response to Terrance Davis

“Technology and the Institutions for higher education have finally merged and become a vital part of our educational system called Course Management Systems. Authors (McGee, P., Carmean, C., Brown, G. 2005) setting the foundation for Course Management Systems (CMS) in the way we speak and think of transformative change, not only in the context of education but in how we disseminate information that directly influences the way we learn, striving to attain deeper learning and engagement within an higher educational pedagogy. With this emerging technology there are myriad of issues that affected the stakeholders. Moreover, authors (McGee, P. ,Carmean, C., Brown, G. 2005) “refine some of these questions by examining the roles and needs of each of the stakeholders in CMS: teachers, students, support services, leadership, and vendors”.”

Terrance,
The proliferation of technology continues in all aspects of our lives. However, nowhere is the question of its effectiveness more apt than in education. Technology for the sake of using it does not improve or enhance learning. The questions raised by the authors cited in your paper are valid.

I contend most CMS unequivocally have changed how we learn if merely for the constant availability of the content matter. That of itself will affect how well some learn by attending to biocognitive cycles (Jensen, 2008). Jensen contends that requiring learners to be attentive for extended periods is counterproductive to learning. Ubiquitous learning allows students of all ages to schedule learning when their rhythm of learning is at its peak. This is only one possible answer to a flurry of questions that surround the effectiveness of CMS.

You did a nice job of synthesizing the information.

Jensen, E. (2008). Brain-based learning: The new paradigm of teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Response to Jeinine Urquiza

Response to Jeinine Urquiza

“Karen Gocsiks' What is an Academic Paper? is an informative page providing information about this style of writing. Gocsic introduces the topic by explaining how academic writing differs from writing in high school. She makes suggests for successful writing from high school to collegiate writing, along with defining what academic writing is.”

Jeinine,
As I read the article, I wondered why it was included in the assigned reading. As I struggled to write my paper, I began to understand why. I think this was the first paper we were instructed to write with little to no direction. Going back to basics and creating a thesis statement helped me to focus and thus sift through the maze of reading.

Gocsik’s clear and concise delivery was a refreshing change from the other technical terminology laden reading of this week.

Your summary was on point.

Clark_Irene_Learning Platforms: Defining the Alphabet Soup

A Learning Platform is a relatively nascent commercial and pedagogical development. It is defined by an alphabet soup of acronyms that often overlap and are used interchangeably by some within the field. CMS can refer to Content or Course Management while CLE, Collaborative Learning Environment, may also refer to Learning Management System (LMS), CMS or collectively e-learning. Clearly, there exists a need for standardization of the terms and systems that define Learning Management or Platforms.

Although available in varying forms and functions, and thus the multitude of acronyms, the term Learning Management System generally refers “a software application that automates the administration, tracking, and reporting of training events" (Ellis, 2009) and focuses on various educational, administrative, and deployment requirements. However, that definition expands to include training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content (Learning management system, 2008).

Most LMSs are web-based and therefore ubiquitous which lends to their appeal and functionality. In addition to LMS’s ubiquitous learning, content, and management access, most LMSs provide broad functions that complement its primary function. Some additional dimensions include collaborative learning, on-line learning and assessment, and management of continuous professional education.

LMSs use a variety of development platforms including Java EE, and Microsoft.Net, and a developed database. Most systems are developed for profit and restrict access to their program, however some are free and allow access, open-source, to some models.
However, LMS or electronic, e-learning, is a commercial enterprise experiencing unprecedented growth (Nagel, 2010).

In North America, educational institutions are driving the growth for e-learning which accounts for about 43% of all purchases (Nagel, 2010). Visit one e-learning vendor, The eLearning Guild, and there are 1311 tools, technologies, products, and services from which to choose.

The growth in the demand for e-learning platforms, coupled with the variety of forms and functions offered, beg for clarity and uniformity in definition and use of terms referring to LMS. The use of LMSs and particularly their ability to morph into the specified needs of an organization will grow, therefore having users and designers speaking a common language can only facilitate the spread, understanding and use of LMSs.

References
Ellis, R. K. (2009). Guide to learning management systems. Available from http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/12ECDB99-3B91-403E-9B15-7E597444645D/23395/LMS_fieldguide_20091.pdf

Learning Management System (2008, July). In Wikipedia online encyclopedia. Retrieved September 02, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system

Nagel, D. (2010, March 3). The future of elearning is more growth. Campus Technology. Retrieved on September 02, 2010 from http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2010/03/03/The-Future-of-E-Learning-Is-More-Growth.aspx?Page=1