Week 3 - E learning Guides

Week 3

Looking at the website : http://elg.massey.ac.nz/ These e-learning guidelines are very interesting, it explores the e-learning guides from different perspective like student, teachers, support staff and managers। The website seems to be up-to-date with practical information and direction on e-learning।I really liked the Cube and the animation of it leading to the different guidelines.

The two elearning guidelines relevant to my area of practice are:
1.) TD2:Do students get clearly defined learning objectives that assist them in focussing on their learning activities?

2.) TD5: Have a representative sample of students tested the e-learning materials, and any necessary modifications been made?

For the Computer courses that I am teaching, a lot of time we have students who get confused and are not sure of what they are suppose to be doing next or what the contents are leading into. I think our online materials cover the concepts and ideas of the course to ensure that students are clear on the course's focus, but there must be some ways we can improve it, so that they are able to see the bigger picture of what they a leading towards.

We had just recently – converted our book manuals into online learning for a few units and this is just very new, and they have been some mistakes or problems regarding the online resource. We are trying to get as many feedbacks from students who are currently doing it, so that we can make the necessary changes on it as we go along. Sometimes we tend to think that that would be the obvious option for the students to follow through the steps, and guess what, it tends out to be not the only direction that it will lead to. So it is very important to be precise and also it is good to do trials and do the necessary modifications if need be.

I generally think that “TD1: Is the use of e-learning appropriate to the intended learning outcomes?” is a very important Guide for whatever course you design. “The general principles for effective teaching are generally the same regardless of the technology used.”
Doesn’t matter what course and how we design the course – we should see if it meets the desired outcome।

Identify two issues related to quality in eLearning - these will provide part of the rationale for your evaluation project।

Issue 1: The motivation and support in elearning is limited compared to a normal ordinary class, where all the students are together with the lecturer. In a normal class where the lecturers are able to feel and physically see if the students are looking all confused or has no clue of what was just said and taught.

Issue 2: Usage of new or complicated E-Learning tools। Including software’s and other programs that will be required in order to view the course materials. If your learners spent half the semester figuring out how to use the e-learning tool or how to get to course contents, than that would not be such a good design. Sometimes we assumes that its so easy to download these package and set it up and it should be fine, but for some that would be a very difficult task.

For issue 1, the guide TD2 would be appropriate, where we need to make sure the students are focused on the learning outcomes, how can we motivate and support them to reach the outcomes of the course। TD5 – is a good link to the second issue, regarding the complicated Elearning tools. Whenever a new tool is introduced, it should be checked or trial done to test it in all conditions to see if any problem arises and if so, modifications to be done.

-------------------------***-------------------------
**** The future is leading towards Podcasting Lectures****

Why is evaluation important to you and how do you define it?

For me evaluation is a method of trying to gather information on a certain educational programme or course to allow us to make statements/ judgements on it. A major goal of any evaluation activity is to influence future decision-making.
If you look at the ADDIE model of instructional design – I think most educational providers do Summative Evaluation, but tends to leave out the formative part. I think looking at this model – the formative evaluation is very vital in evaluating, especially the first three stages of Analysis, Design and Development.
In my personal opinion – evaluation would be important to allow us to know whether what we are teaching meets the students expectations, are we meeting the industry needs, up-to-date with technology etc। Also evaluation is carried in our institute to see the teaching effectiveness.

What sort of evaluations mentioned on the presentation are familiar to you already and why?

Observation
I have been evaluated may times through observation, this is where your manager or HOD would like to come and sit in you class and observe your teaching and evaluate your teaching and give you a feedback।

Questionnaires
Most of the times the students get questionnaires ti fill in to evaluate the teaching – the lecturer and as well as the course content।

I have heard of discussion forums and Expert reviews, but have not done such evaluations myself as yet।

Why is quality important in eLearning?

Quality is very important because you are not physically present to answer any ambiguous or unclear instruction or information. So quality in terms of being precise and clear with all the materials in e- learning is very important.
Quality of the content will determine the success of the students.