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Friday, January 07, 2005 |
Technical Note 30 - Vendor-Assisted Evaluation of a Learning Management System.
A product evaluation was conducted of Desire2Learn, an online learning
management system gaining popularity in educational institutions. Since
an online trial version of the software was not available for
evaluation, an inspection meeting with the vendor was arranged. This
provided the evaluation team with an opportunity to examine the
precautions necessary for ensuring the objectivity of a product
evaluation based on vendor-supplied information. The report outlines
the team's use of evaluator-driven enquiry and a triangulated approach
to information checking. The Desire2Learn product is assessed as a
flexible and useful addition to the range of learning management system
options. By Patricia Fahrni, Jim Rudolph, and Adrienne De Schutter. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
9:51:29 PM  Google It!.
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Book Review: Reusing Online Resources: A sustainable approach to e-learning.
reuse and "recycle" of existing teaching-learning resources have
always been a common practice in the world of education. However, it
had never been in the centre-stage of educational debate as it is in
the recent past. The reasons for educational material reuse are: the
need to provide greater access to quality education, shrinking
financial resources, pressure to provide education in cost-effective
ways, and the overall impact of the information and communication
technology (ICT) in educational practices. In fact, with the advent of
ICT it has become easier to store, retrieve, share, and reuse
educational materials. Though for individual teachers, the practice of
preparing learning materials (also called Learning Objects) and their
reuse have been simpler, the book under review covers a wide-range of
complex issues in reuse of online resources for sustainable and
cost-effective teaching from both institutional and global knowledge
economy contexts. By A. Littlejohn (Ed). Reviewed by: Sanjaya Mishra. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
9:49:31 PM Google It!.
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Technical Notes: Editorial - Technical Evaluation Reports.
Modern distance education (DE) is increasingly dependent on the
software available for communication between students and teachers. A
wide range of online communication products is available, and
competitive claims made by suppliers can be bewildering. Currently,
particular growth is being observed in the development of synchronous
(real-time) communication methods, added to the existing array of
asynchronous communication methods such as email and online bulletin
boards. The task of selecting appropriate products in this competitive
environment is increasingly complex.
Athabasca University's
Centre for Distance Education (CDE) addresses the issue of software
evaluation in several of its Master's courses. In activities
illustrating the importance of the evaluation process in online
education, the students of these courses rate the merits and
shortcomings of competing software products. Their conclusions are
shared on a public software evaluation Web site:
(http:cde.athabascau.casofteval), in order to help other distance
educators and students to select appropriate course development and
delivery methods. The CDE maintains and updates the evaluation site as
a collaborative activity by its faculty and graduate students. By Jon
Baggaley. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
9:48:29 PM Google It!.
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The University of Texas System TeleCampus: A Statewide Model for Collaboration.
The University of Texas (UT) System has been meeting educational needs
of students for over 150 years. In 1997, the UT System initiated the
development of the UT TeleCampus, a centralized facilitation point for
distance learning. The TeleCampus opened its virtual doors in May 1998,
focused entirely on support services for students. By late 1998, the
TeleCampus had begun developing what would become collaborative
benchmark online programs for the UT System.
As a result of
having developed over 12 complete online degree programs since that
time, many lessons have been learned about (1) barriers to
collaboration and how to overcome them; (2) faculty development and
interaction; and (3) the commitment required to build successful online
programs.
This article describes the UT TeleCampus initiative
and how it has grown from a services-only organization to a nationally
recognized model for delivering high quality distance education. By
Darcy W. Hardy, Robert l. Robinson. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
9:47:33 PM Google It!.
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Technical Notes: Integrated Course Delivery Packages.
This report contains updates of three products: Elluminate, LearnLinc,
and Wimba. Each features audio communication, both asynchronous and
synchronous, and has been selected for this report to complement the
preceding review of Internet audio products. The three packages also
contain integrated applications for online, classroom-like, educational
activities and discussions. A fourth service, Ed2Go, offers online
tutorial facilities similar to those provided by the Elluminate vendor.
The four reviews are offered as examples of the many products now
offering integrated applications of this type. By Judy Annis, Tracy
Hensel, Patricia Lundstrom, and Richard Jones. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
9:42:53 PM Google It!.
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Technical Notes: Internet Audio Products (Update).
The benefits in distance education of collaborative interaction via
online, synchronous audio methods have been discussed in previous
reports in this series. As the months go by, new software products are
continually introduced to the market and existing products updated. In
addition, the effect of increased traffic on the software servers is
noted. The current report updates some of the series' previous reviews
of online audio-conferencing products (i.e., iVisit, NetMeeting,
PalTalk, and Yahoo Messenger), selected because they permit
conferencing (i.e., interaction between three or more people), are free
cost-effective, and operate on PC systems of limited capacity. These
products are compared with two fully featured educational and
commercial products (LearnLinc and VoiceCafe) that provide benchmarks
in terms of reliability, technical features, and ease of use. By Jim
Depow, Jim Klaas and Norine Wark. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
9:41:55 PM Google It!.
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Student Support in Open Learning: Sustaining the process.
This paper discusses the aspect of student support that emerged as a
key component of a longitudinal study into the experiences of nurses
studying through open learning in the UK. Students engaged in this
study were mature learners who were practicing nurses and
predominantly, but not exclusively, women. Participants perceived
entering higher education as a considerable challenge.
Key
Terms: Longitudinal research; constant comparative analysis; social,
professional and academic networks By Christine Dearnley. [International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning]
8:59:09 PM Google It!.
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JavaScript Graphics Library. This is just beautiful. A set of Javascript
DHTML functions you can download that allow you to draw
lines sand shapes on a web page. The functions are fast and
the effects compatible with almost every browser. Via NTK.
By Walter Zorn, January, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
8:16:19 PM Google It!.
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OASIS Releases OpenDocument 1.0 Committee
Draft Specification for Public Review. Something to keep an eye on. "This
document defines an XML schema for office applications and
its semantics. The schema is suitable for office documents,
including text documents, spreadsheets, charts and
graphical documents like drawings or presentations, but is
not restricted to these kinds of documents. The schema
provides for high-level information suitable for editing
documents. It defines suitable XML structures for office
documents and is friendly to transformations using XSLT or
similar XML-based tools." Via Tim Bray. By Robin
Cover, Cover Pages, January 4, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
8:08:29 PM Google It!.
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E-Learning and Sustainability. This paper "review(s) major trends in
e-learning and attempt(s) to draw out their implications in
terms of the sustainability of e-learning." The author
"stresse(s) the interaction between the development
and implementation of technology, the organization of
education and educational institutions and the role of
teachers and trainers." The whole sustainability angle
doesn't do a lot for me (because this is usually a prelude
to cutting support for something, or privatizing it), but
as Scott
Leslie points out, the paper "could well be
considered a survey of most of the discussions I have seen
unfolding both in ed tech blogs and other forums for the
past 2 years." Certainly, the author goes beyond the
traditional discussions of learning objects and online
courses, exploring some of the new models and arguments
found here and elsewhere. It's a long read, it could use an
edit, but it's well worth the time. MS Word document. By
Graham Attwell, University of Bremen, January, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]
8:06:39 PM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2005 Bruce Landon.
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