23 things, hummm...

The final assignment for the Technology tools for online learning included generating a list of 23 things an online facilitator would need to teach.  This class, and its students, has provided me ideas on ways to disseminate information to students.  This class has been time consuming but very rewarding.  The video tape needs work, but I now have a foundation to work off of.   

The 5 things I most needed/wanted to learn during the past eight weeks were: 1.) convert video file from my current camcorder to an MP3 file, 2.) with technical tools, help students understand intuitively, 3.) how to create a website, 4.) an understanding of HTML, 5.) a better handle on OL teaching.  I was told this may have been a bit ambitious.  It was, but I have a better handle on OL teaching.  I have generated a blog site.  I have had a chance to experiment on different tools to help students understand intuitively.  I am looking forward to the remaining classes toward this certificate.

Teach Back using a Tool of Your Choice

I have chosen MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to “teach back” basically because it is something very new to me.  The approach I have taken was to kill 2 birds with one stone.  My grandson, who is visiting for the summer, is with me on this video.   As for MOOC itself, I really do like the option of taking courses such as these, but the subjects appear limited.  Fortunately, a few covers the teaching related topics.  An advantage to MOOC courses is "they are free".  This would be useful if you want to accumulate knowledge.  If the credits provided from these courses are needed, then there are payments due.  This maybe very useful to me in building my teaching skill set at minimal cost.  I will explore this option in the near future.

Create a Survey: Alternative Energy

My survey’s link is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G332NVZ

There wasn’t any particular reason why I chose SurveyMonkey other than a colleague used this particular tool while working towards their doctorate.  It seems pretty intuitive.  I am a big fan of randomization tools and in order to use question randomization, I needed to upgrade to pro.  There are other tools provided when there is an upgrade, but I’ll let someone else pay for that one.

I would use this type of survey at the start of the course to give me and the students a sense of what their knowledge is on the subject.  Let’s take for example the question on the survey about ceiling fans.  They serve a dual purpose.  Not only it cools/heats an area, it circulates the air.  An individual may investigate this question about energy cost ($).  In regards to the opinionated questions, this provides me an idea of the class mindset.  Surveys in general seek this.

I sort of do this at the start of both my Residential wiring classes.  At the beginning of the course I show images, ask them to write down what they see could be wrong (thank you EC&M).  This is not a graded activity.  At the conclusion of the course, we go over the answers they wrote.  At that time they can witness their improvements (or stagnation). 

These surveys, polls (ex. Polleverywhere) are readily available to us (anyone).  With this easy access, we can monitor the type of students and possibly use tools to cater towards their thinking.  Another advantage is anonymity.  Surveys taken in F2F settings may be skewed (teacher’s eval from students), at least more than in an OL environment.       

Create Content Assignment

I chose to use Prezi as a demonstration, applying Jing to do a voice over, and then downloaded it to Vimeo.  The Prezi tool has proven very cool to some of the students I have shown this to.  I wanted to use Jing too.  So using it in this capacity was great.  One drawback with Jing is I am allotted 5 minutes.  Applying Jing went well, but then came the biggest challenge: downloading to Vimeo.  After some trials and a few tutorials, I was able to download the Jing video.  Going through all this has been VERY educational.  I have learned various uses of these tools through this process of immersion.  A few hours was involved in putting this video together.  I started the Prezi a few weeks back for the workshop.  This type of presentation may be beneficial on short presentations (boards meetings) or for students, their class presentations.  This was really a fun project. 

   

                     

RSS Feed

A class discussion question:  What is an RSS feed and what is its relationship to podcasting and other content delivery? How can it be leveraged in an online environment for teacher-made content?

In essence, RSS feed is a set up to allow access to other sites.  Literally, RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”.  Instead of checking different “favorite” sites each day for refreshed, updated or new information, these articles, blogs, podcasts or other means of communication will be sent to you.  What is needed is a site though, to send this information to, which you need establish.  This is where a “reader” comes into play.  It sounds simple, and in many ways it appears it is (RSS in Plain English).  There are many readers to choose from.  Some readers are free and some aren’t (How to explain RSS…).  With my server, the RSS symbol is part of the toolbar.  When the symbol displays, it has detected a feed for the site I am on.  I would click on the symbol and follow the instructions.

How RSS can be “leverage” in an OL environment is it allows the information the facilitator provides the students to be current.  An example is where a RSS can be set up to a trade magazine.  When the reader receives the headline about a new type of tamper resistant GFCI outlet, access to the specific article can be retrieved from the reader (↓below↓). 

This would be useful for all curriculums.  This would be particularly useful for OL courses or F2F courses which doesn’t use textbooks.  This way the information provided to students is as real time as possible.    

Bandwidth Pt.II

From a current class discussion:


What is bandwidth and how does it impact content delivery? What does this mean for effectively using a tool that requires streaming or downloading? While you're at it, please differentiate between streamed versus downloaded content.

Bandwidth (computing), according to Wikipedia is “a rate of data transfer, bit rate or throughput, measured in bits per second (bps)”.  The more bits per second available, the faster data moves.  Bandwidth does play a role in streaming or downloading .  What is considered a good bandwidth is around 800 kbps.  When wireless is used, the bandwidth increases dramatically.  In wireless systems, downloading files such as word docs, PPTs, or videos whether it is 3G or 4G, the impact is minimal.  Where the impact is felt more is in streaming.  When streaming occurs, live feeds are received.  Streaming is much slower in 3G than in 4G.  One wireless service provider response to my question about using Skype, said 4G would pick up audio and video, whereas 3G would only give the audio feed, not the video. 
As for the desktop or laptop, bandwidth is provided the service provider (type of modem) and in all cases, the time of day the internet is used..  When there is heavy volume occurring on the internet, uploading, downloading and streaming are all affected.  In some areas, peak times are 10am-9pm.  This can be when the internet is the slowest.  The best time to load much information would be early morning. 
    

The way this information can help in education, I feel, it will help to identify the type of technology a student needs access to for a class which may be inclined to use live streams.  Myself, I may take a second look at using the live streaming tool.  I may use a synchronous tool without this ability for the time being, instead using text and or audio in a class setting.  I don’t think I am going to wait too long though.

Bandwidth

A question about bandwidth from my OL class intrigued me.  This was my response at the time (I don't claim to be an expert): 

7. How is bandwidth availability a consideration in the use of synchronous components in an online course?

According to Wikipedia, bandwidth has various takes.  This, “bandwidth (computing): a rate of data transfer, bit rate or throughput, measured in bits per second (bps)”, is the definition I will focus on.  Some of the concerns we have for our students to succeed is if their systems would download/upload adequately so not to frustrate them while completing their OL course.  Speeds that are acceptable may be 1 Mbps for downloads and 500 Kbps for uploads on cable modems.  Sites like this link, test your internet speed, can help you gage the speed of your modem’s bandwidth in relationship to others modems.  A technological advance that may threaten cable and DSL modems is 3G-4G wireless connections.  In an article by Marguerite Reardon (Mar 22, 2010), download speeds of wireless are between 3Mbps and 6Mbps.  The speed the modem operates doesn’t affect chats let’s say, but viewing live feeds, the more bps available, the better the stream.

This has caused me to rethink using modem.  What I am not sure of if the system is dependable.  When I called one provider, the service rep stated that there were more drops on cell phones than 3-4 G systems operating desktops or laptops.  I don’t have many drop calls right now, so I would consider getting a smart phone.  The question is which provider to go with.