A Different Kind of E-Learning
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The document discusses the evolution of e-learning, highlighting how technology has democratized access to educational resources. It outlines various stages of e-learning, from traditional methods to modern platforms like MOOCs and Wikiversity, and emphasizes the importance of task planning to manage varying levels of student participation efficiently. The author also notes the benefits of including free listeners as a way to enhance course visibility and encourage resource sharing.
A Different Kind of E-Learning
- 1. A different kind of e-learning KAIDO KIKKAS associate professor IT College, TUT kaido@itcollege.ee 18.05.2018
- 2. For introduction: the mighty technology Things that earlier required ‘rocket science’ and a lot of money, are now available to everyone. Examples: − Today’s home computer vs top tech 40 years ago − Today’s smartphones vs old-time supercomputers − Social media (blogs, wikis, social networks) vs traditional media − Music or video/movie studio at home vs earlier dedicated facilities BOTTOM LINE: people can do great things if they do not have to face stupid obstacles from business, government and antiquated legislation
- 3. A timeline of technology-assisted learning Up to the 80s: contact learning or pre-Internet tech measures (TV, radio, cassettes, videotapes etc) 80s and early 90s: computer-based learning (computers as a glorified, interactive VCR - CD-ROMs, multimedia, educational software Later 90s: e-learning 1.0 – e-mail, Web (1.0), scripts and applets First years of 00s: e-learning 2.0 – learning management systems (WebCT/Blackboard, Ilias, Moodle) 10s: e-learning 3.0 – Web 2.0 and distributed learning environments, MOOCs
- 4. Wikiversity A project under Wikimedia Commons (probaby the most common of those is Wikipedia) Similarly to Wikipedia, all content is distributed under free licenses, mostly − Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike − GNU Free Documentation License
- 5. Components of the course Main page at Wikiversity (the central hub): Short intro and main data (credits, supervisor etc) Detailed guide for the course Participant list Team list (if used) Exam registration (if using traditional exam) Link to forum Plus outside resources: Forum (Nabble.com; monitored over RSS) Team wikis Personal blogs (monitored over RSS) Skype and/or e-mail
- 6. Weekly workflow Read the ’lecture’ at Wikiversity Weekly blogging tasks Wiki-based team paper (4-5 people) Reviewing another team’s work (blogged) Topical discussions in forum In some courses: weekly text chat (approx. 1 hour, part consulting, part informal discussion of weekly topics)
- 7. Grading the works Grades are often considered private information How to keep them private in an open course? Options include ● Using the hosting institution study information system (feasible if no/little outsiders) ● Public grade table, password protected (easy to do with Excel or LibreOffice Calc) ● Public grade table, coded (numbers or pseudonyms) ● On-demand: everyone can ask over e-mail, Skype etc (feasible in smaller courses)
- 8. Three levels of participation For credits, formal enrolment – need to register through the faculty (similarly to other courses) For credits, from outside – need to register through the complementary learning/training faculty Free listeners, want just the information rather than credits – free to come and go as they please
- 9. Typical question: why teach outsiders? For-credit students are sponsored by state, the course load increase gets formally recognized (and paid) Free listeners (in sensible amounts) act as valuable marketers of the course – provided that the content is good. Workload increase can be optimized (e.g. more stress on peer reviews etc) The course type needs careful planning of tasks and structure, so that 10 x increase in students does not mean 10 x increase of workload Example: continuous points-gathering (with some choice) and basing the grade on the final sum rather than doing a traditional exam
- 10. What is different Fits well for more narrative type of courses Analytical rather than purely fact-oriented tasks (analyze, describe, give examples, compare...). Means that Different solutions can be equally valid Good old cheating does not work well, especially with more experienced supervisor
- 11. Kaido Kikkas Associate professor IT College, TUT kaido@itcollege.ee https://www.slideshare.net/UncleOwl