Wk4 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ UDUTU Project

Jeff,

This project sums up the Professional Learning Network and the steps required to set one up for your self. I liked the way you incorporated the survey into the lesson. This is a really neat way to bring all of these separate entities into one learning unit. I could see using this in my Interdisciplinary Skills courses to help new freshmen students begin building a professional online profile.

On Saturday, August 28th Jeff Kohls wrote:

The Udutu project can be found here.

Dana Kohls and I collaborated on the Udutu project because we are collaborating on the Action Research Project as well. The project focuses on establishing a PLN for our school district. The Udutu project will serve as a launch for Cycle II data collection and analysis, as well as deliver course instruction.

The focus of the Udutu course is to introduce Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, and iGoogle as they relate to the PLN. This is done through audio, and video tutorials, produced by Dana and I (K-Squared Productions), as well as media assets that are on Youtube.

I very much enjoyed the Udutu platform, and can see this as an asset that I would subscribe to in order to support my districts' PLN. The platform was easy to manipulate, add media, and add text.

Wk4 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere's UDUTU Project

Scott,

This was a really good lesson on contract law. It broke the complicated concepts of recording contracts into easy to understand pieces of information. I really like the explanation of royalty calculations. I don’t think most of us realize how much pressure is on the artist to “sell”. Once they are bound by the contract, they really need to move their product.


On Saturday, August 28th Scott Legere wrote:

For my Udutu project, I attempted to develop a short lesson about some of the common language found within production and recording contracts. Often, this language is complex and bewildering for young media students, so I tried to imbue my project with some humor and silliness. In many of the assessments, there is no wrong answer and each choice leads you to the next site.

Overall, I found the Udutu environment to be surprisingly easy to navigate. I think this is a valuable tool, and I've enjoyed learning to post content. That said, I'm having some technical difficulties- thus far, I can not get any of my MP3 files to load and stream from the site. They are accessible within myUdutu, the stream from inside the editor, but I can't yet get them to play from my published site even though they are set to "Stream" the narration directly from the page. Also, I'm struggling with some of the auto-advance functions after certain assessments, but I'll get to the bottom of all of these issues.

Again, the process has been positive so far. I'll continue working through the night and the rest of the day tomorrow in order to solve this little glitch.

Thanks,

URL http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launcheval/22206/Course40561/Launch.html

NOTE: 8.29.10

I'm changing my opinion of Udutu somewhat. While I've finally gotten my audio narrations to load (when refreshing each page) I'm finding significant browser inconsistencies and an inability for Udutu to launch new "links" within the system. As I've added several pages since yesterday, may of the links remain tied to the old navigation scheme bypassing Slide 10 especially. And, a blank opening page keeps loading inappropriately. Hmmmm.

Wk4 Blog Post Comments on Tamara Collins’ UDUTU Project

Tamara,

This is a great lesson on the writing process. Very well organized and put together. I know that this was geared towards the 6th grade level, but these are concepts that are applicable at any level. The additional links to things like starter words, transitional words, and proofreaders marks are a great asset to have available in the lesson. I really like the idea of color-coding the different parts to see where you may be lacking content in your writing. The end assessment perfectly sums up the lesson with identifying the steps in the writing process. Great work!


On Sunday, August 29th Tamara Collins wrote:

Click here to go to my UDUTU.

I decided to create a writing course for 6th grade students. The UDUTU goes through the six steps of the writing process. You can click on the watermark to make it go away.

I really enjoyed this project because this is something I could truly use in the classroom. This year we have a ton of new teachers whom have never taught before, so I figured with a bit more tweaking I can modify it to make it completely fit our students. The new teachers can get an idea on how we teach the writing process.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk4: Future Report

References

Intelligent tutoring system. (2010, May 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
17:01, August 29, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intelligent_tutoring_system&oldid=362168791

Loyens, S., Magda, J., & Rikers, R. (2008). Self-Directed Learning in Problem-Based Learning and its Relationships with Self-Regulated Learning. Educational Psychology Review, 20(4), 411-427. doi:10.1007/s10648-008-9082-7.

Taraghi, B., Ebner, M., Till, G., & Mühlburger, H. (2010). Personal Learning Environment. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, (S1), 25-30. doi:10.3991/ijet.v5s1.1195.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk4 - UDUTU Project

For my UDUTU lesson, I chose a project created in Musical Theory and Educational Applications. This lesson was designed for the Advanced Audio Production class at Keystone College, and teaches audio physics principles and terminology.

I found the UDUTU platform slightly awkward in the beginning, and it took me a few tries before realizing that I needed to save all of my changes after making them. Once I got the hang of it, the platform revealed itself to be very versatile. I was able to create a guided video lesson with two forms of assessment. At the midway assessment point, if the learner answered any of the questions incorrectly they would be redirected back to the appropriate lesson. For the final assessment, the learner would have to answer a series of five multiple-choice questions correctly to successfully complete the lesson.

I was very impressed with how easy it was to create highly interactive teaching components with UDUTU, and I can’t wait to import them into our school’s CMS and use them for class this upcoming semester.

Click the link below to see a published version of the lesson. Because I am using the free account, you will see a watermark over the lesson. Simply click on the watermark to make it go away.
COMM 320 - Advanced Audio Production

Wk3 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere’s Blog

I completely understand what you mean when you commented about being consumed with trying to find ways to use these technologies in our classrooms. Last month in the Game Strategies and Motivation class, I had racked my brain trying to come up with a digital exercise for our final project. I was trying to envision some sort of Guitar Hero style means of teaching frequency and audio principles, and making it entirely too complicated for the scope of the project. It wasn’t until I received some feedback from Dr. Siegel and other members of the class, that my direction changed. He instructed me to start by thinking of a game that wasn’t a video game, to come up with a core concept first, before getting caught up in the technology. I think it is too easy for us to have these tools and then go looking for things to fix, instead of having a problem and then finding the right tool for the job.

On Tuesday, August 17 Scott Legere wrote:

This is all very complicated and I am coming to the conclusion that a topic area like Learning Management Systems and Organization could easily morph into its own year long program. As the previous two weeks have shown, there is a plethora of tools and systems available for not only developing learning content and organizing that that material per the needs of a specific student or institution.

CMS, LMS, and LCMS platforms are all very complex, and their implementation should be made only after considerable discussion from those immediately involved including participants (learners), trainers, administrators, IT staff, and programmers.

Despite the complexity that comes with the depth of functionality within these systems, I really appreciated this week's readings which first helped categorize the different tool sets that might all be leveraged within a larger learning platform. Per the e-learningguru website, authoring or production tools, individual element tools, webcasting and streaming tools, virtual classroom portal and discussion tools, as well as information management and training tools are all critical components in the creation and deployment of content. Seeing these resources broken down into some individual laments helped to clarify not only the tools themselves, but the steps that might have to be taken to go from lesson conception to deployment.

Furthermore, it is no surprise that the other main topic up for discussion this week is assessment. Within one of our first EMDT courses, I believe it was Beth Strugeon who reminded us all that "teaching and learning are two distinct activities". This perspective is critical as we all look to understand the role of technology and how it can effect a student's learning and comprehension.

At least personally, the idea of education and technology could easily be consumed with a singular focus on the exciting digital resources available for media-rich content. As an educator, I can immediately start dreaming up all of the videos, podcasts, and interactive web-enabled elements that would be fun and engaging to distribute within the classroom. However, this attitude is largely focused on my content delivery, or "teaching". Little in this particular subject area concerns "learning" or the actual input, understanding, and synthesis on behalf of the student involved.

Both virtual and physical educational environments demand assessment, otherwise, educators, parents, administrators, and even students have no way to measure true comprehension. What has been learned? How can it be applied? How does this relate to one's life, community, or profession? These are all important questions to carefully consider when developing educational goals and outcomes prior to the blind implementation of an exciting new technology or resource.

Throughout the last 10 years, I've learned (often frustratingly so) that organizations and institutions in higher education move very slowly. However, I believe that this realm is one of those areas wherein any use of new tools should be a deliberate and comprehensive "discussion" between all parties involved.

Like many FSO participants I'm sure, as soon as I was enrolled in this program, I wanted to have a portal as powerful as Full Sail's available to my students. However, it is clear that the development of such resources is a lengthy process which can take nothing short of years. It comes as no real surprise that as Full Sail began developing the custom-built FSO system, they leveraged other online CMS tools in the interim.

Quality work takes time. Developing systems which not only distribute educational content but aid in assessing whether that material is understood by the learner is a significant and time consuming process that demands careful analysis and planning. Thankfully, as a grateful participant currently engaged in the FSO portal, I can whole-heartedly say that these systems can be nothing short of life changing for students if adequate time (and care) is taken.

Wk3 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ Blog

I agree with you Jeff, that technology will not fully replace the human instructor element in the classroom. However, with technologies like SCORM, RLOs, LMS, CMS, etc., I could see a time that humans would become nearly transparent in teaching. Imagine a future where courses are completely premade prior to the semester and then just run like a program, made up of building blocks of material that has already been created, with little or no direct instructor interaction! I think there are so many things that are like that already. I know when I want a tutorial on how to fix something around the house the first place I check is YouTube, to see if someone had created a video explaining how to do it. In this case, I don’t get to ask the person giving the instruction questions, I would have to check another source or figure it out. It is somewhat frightening to think that someday students may ask their wristwatch how to solve an equation and a computer generated voice replies with the answer.

On Friday, August 20 Jeff Kohls wrote:

I think the future of LMS, CMS, and LCMS looks exciting. While I feel that the human instructor can never be replaced by technology, the human element can be augmented with technology, and the future looks to be highly interactive and synchronous.

The reading this week on the FSO platform talked about trends happening right now in the realm of CMSs. Social networks are becoming more professional and collaborative, and are no longer just a place to see old friends. Professional Learning Networks can be assembled by using such social networks as Twitter with professionals located in every country of the world, all who share a common focus or goal.

Media technology that is being used in schools and institutions of higher learning has been highly developed and now allows for a virtual view of every content that is studied. Those studying biology can virtually dissect a frog, anatomy students can delve inside the human body without touching a cadaver, geographers can fly to remote places and track the last surviving member of an indigenous tribe by using real-time satellite imagery and geographic information systems, and architects can electronically design their buildings and make changes instantaneously. Medical students can learn how to prepare a patient for examination without entering a doctors office. The market has come to the student, as opposed to the student going to the market.

The third trend mentioned on FSO was the use of hand-held mobile devices in classrooms, such as cell phones and PDAs, but could now include iPods, and iPads. Many of these devices possess as much power as the instructor's company-owned computer and offer high speed internet access outside of the school networks.

Trend four spoke about the accessibility of Internet based learning facilities, or distance learning. The Internet is used for nearly every aspect of our lives, from shopping to finding a mate to accessing a schematic diagram to learn the wiring of a 92 Honda Civic. The infrastructure already exists, and seems to be untouched by such events as economic recessions.

The fifth trend discussed the notion of embedded learning. This notion is further supported by a Wikipedia page on ITS, Intelligent Tutoring Systems. Wikipedia defines an ITS as any computer system that provides direct customized instruction or feedback to students i.e., without the interaction of human beings, whilst performing a task. Basically, this is learning by doing. Through the use of artificial intelligence, the user makes a series of choices and experiences results based on his/her choices.

The sixth trend is cloud computing, web services, and online applications. These will make the creation, distribution, and consumption of information experiences more available, flexible, adaptable, and cheaper.

One very interesting (and long) article included in the reading was the MMOG 2005 article by Curtis Bonk and Vanessa Dennen. I only skimmed this article, but did download it because I found it intriguing as it discussed how the military is using the popularity of gaming, online gaming, and the fact that 75% of teenage males play video games to its advantage. This really speaks about the psychology behind organizations such as the military and how they use RLOs and other management systems to train millions of independent individuals.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk3 - LMS Choice: Selecting the Right Learning Management System

As more and more companies and educational institutions move towards an electronic, hybrid, or distance learning model for delivering information media to their learners they run into the issue of how to select the right system to fit their needs. There are hundreds of Learning Management Systems (LMS) on the market today, each with a particular range of features and functionality in relation to price. In order for a company to achieve the highest efficiency possible from their LMS, they first need to clearly identify what their learning objectives are. From there, the company can narrow down their selection before moving into the acquisition of the product.

In the blog article by Godfrey Parkin entitled “The LMS selection process in a nutshell” (Parkin, 2005), he states that the intuition needs to form a selection team made up of all parties who will be involved with the use and implementation of the LMS. This includes information technology staff, content creation managers, and perhaps an outside consultant. This team must identify what they want the LMS to do, how they plan to integrate it, and who will manage the system once it is implemented. Parkins suggests that the team form a list of “critical success factors” (2005), or the features that absolutely need to be available in order for the system to be an effective solution for the companies training needs. These could include compatibility with human resource management systems, or other legacy systems that the company has in place. Other factors may be the need for a multilingual system, assessment and tracking needs, the need for content compliancy across multiple platforms, point-of-sale or monetary management functionality, hosted or in-house system administration, as well as system support needs.

The next step for the team is to request information from LMS vendors and create a list of systems that meet all of their critical success needs. If the team has several systems that meet their critical needs, they can begin to further narrow the list based on additional features or price factors. Once the team has a handful of potential systems that meet all of their needs, they can contact representatives from each of the LMS companies for demonstrations on the software. The LMS selection team can then start evaluating each system from the perspectives of the LMS administration, support-staff, and the end-user. This will allow the team to see the performance of such a system in practical scenarios, and the software vendor can illustrate how their system can meet the prospective buyer’s needs.

This leads to the stage where the selection team must create a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP is a document designed to alert the service vendor to the needs of the proposing company. The RFP should establish all of the constructs that the software vendor must meet to be considered. These include the project’s scope, functionality requirements based on critical needs, other desirable features, proposed budget, and the projects time-line. This way the service vendor can prepare a portfolio containing the features, functionalities, and prices of a system that will fit the proposing company critical needs. Once the selection team has received proposals from all of the vendors they sent the RFP to, they should have enough information to distinguish their top three picks.

Now the team can further research each of the top three systems by having their users try out each system, and provide the team with feedback of their concerns. The team can also request that other companies write a recommendation on their satisfaction with the particular system. The team can often negotiate with the vendors in order to achieve the best price in relation to the competition. At this point the team should be armed with all of the information they need to make their decision. Now they can install the system and begin the implementation process.

Parkin, G. (2005, April 30). The LMS selection process in a nutshell. Parkin’s Lot. Retrieved from http://parkinslot.blogspot.com/2005/04/lms-selection-process-in-nutshell.html

Wk2 Blog Post Comments on Tamara Collins’ Blog

With all of these systems, I think it is very important that the school clearly assess what they plan on using the technology for. An LCMS gives you the best of both worlds with learning and course management, which would allow expandability for future development as well as the benefits of reusable modules. However, cost may prohibit a smaller institution from implementing this technology. They also may not intend to utilize all of the features that the management system contains at first, but perhaps would be able to introduce a LMS specific to their needs and then later upgrade to an LCMS. PowerSchool seems like a fantastic resource to have available to you, it is important that instructors are comfortable with the tools before they use them in the classroom.

On Wednesday, August 11th Tamara Collins wrote:

Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) are fast becoming a way for training individuals within corporations as well as some educational institutions. It allows for authoring, publishing, and managing learning content (Nichani, 2001). The LCMS can create instant Reusable Leaning Objects or RLO’s to satisfy the needs of the learner. For example companies can foresee the needs of what the employee (learner) will need and create a new course required to train them on a new product, which may launch in the near future (Nichani, 2001).

LCMS can also be customized to fit what the learner may need. Rather than attending an all day training session the LCMS is designed to allow the learner what is necessary or what they need. Along with catering to the needs of the learner they are also able to customize their learning experience through the LCMS (Nichani, 2001).

According to the article LCMS Round Up it is crucial to understand the differences between the Learning Management System (LMS), the Content Management System (CMS) and the LCMS. The article described the LCMS as combining the learner administration capabilities of an LMS with the content creation and storage capabilities of a CMS (Ellis, 2001). LCMS can be considered a very powerful system because it deals with the learning content (Perry, 2009).

After reading the articles on LCMS I immediately thought about a system my school has been using called PowerSchool. It not only allows the teachers to view tutorials on how to accomplish specific things, but it allows the administrators to input what they feel the teacher needs. For example if the administrator foresees that the teacher needs additional support in setting up their grade books they can then tailor the database to include more tutorials on grade books.

Wk2 Blog Post Comments on Karen Williams’ Blog

You are correct that there is a huge cost consideration in implementing a LMS or CMS into your institution. Even if the institution was considering a free open-source alternative to skate around the high-priced enterprise models, there is still the need for at least one full-time administrator of the software as well as one full-time information technology expert in order to integrate and manage the complex software and databases on the server side. You need all of this before you even bring in-house support materials and content creation into the mix. Unless you have individuals willing to donate their time, and a very accommodating IT department, there really isn’t a simple low-cost solution to implementing a LMS or CMS at a school. Perhaps SCORM-compliant programs like Udutu will help to ease these costs in the future.

On Tuesday, August 10th Karen Williams wrote:

The cost factors to implement a Learning Management System (LMS) or Course Management System (CMS) is quite expensive. Several elements and factors have to be consider before implementing such an effective tool. A deciding factor of implementing a LMS or CMS depends on the cost factor of incorporating an existing and established system like Blackboard or customizing an in-house development system. To build an in-house system having moderate functionality can be very expensive ranging from $200,000 to $500,000.

Along with building the LMS/CMS, hiring full-time staff must also enter the equation. For the tool to be effective, personnel is needed to manage, support and oversee the system. The effectiveness of a tool is not that it exist but that it causes your organization to work in a more proficient and efficient environment. Therefore, allotting funds to manage the system is essential to its success.

One would think to create a virtual learning system like LMS or CMS is simply transferring or reorganizing data into a template. On the contrary, analysts say that Learning Management Systems are investments ranging from $500,000 to millions of dollars. Many organizations would love to have an innovative LMS or CMS tool, however, finding the funds to implement and support this system may be a great obstacle for many.

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk2 - UDUTU Setup

1. Name: Kraky, Justin
2. Prior Project Selected: The Physics of Sound Waves; Understanding the physics of sound as it relates to digital audio editing.
3. EDMT Class Created In: Musical Theory and Education Applications – May 2010
4. Initial Appraisal of Udutu Scenario: For this lesson the learner will watch a video on the basic concepts and terminology used in the physics of sound waves. Upon watching the video lesson the learner will have to correctly answer a series of questions to complete the module. I chose the Advanced Assessment three-deep scenario template to direct the lesson. The material from this lesson will be very applicable for the rest of the course, so it is important that the learner have feedback and a chance for them to obtain the correct answer before leaving the lesson.
5. Location/URL:http://publish.myudutu.com/published/launcheval/22103/Course39892/Launch.html
   

Kraky Justin - LMO Wk2 - ADL/Standards/Scorm: The benefits of information standards.

The Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) program was launched in 1997 by the United States Department of Defense in an effort to standardize how educational training was delivered. Their solution was the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), a set of coding standards that would allow compliance between a wide array of learning management systems(LMS)(Advanced Distributed Learning [ADL], 2010). In this way, instructional materials could be easily transferred from one LMS to another, regardless of the system they were created on. Content created to the SCORM standard is also designed to be easily adapted to meet changes in technology. It is also capable of being incorporated into many different scenarios dependant upon the needs of the institution.

With the hundreds of different content and learning management systems being used today, compliance standards ensure that all of these systems can communicate in a common language. This allows the management system to change or upgrade and yet the information is not lost. These standards also keep many educational institutions from reinventing the wheel when it comes to content creation. If an intuition created very effective learning modules on a particular system, they could then share it with the rest of the world. Then the other institutions could focus their energies into creating materials for different subject areas thereby increasing the collective knowledgebase for everyone. This consistency also ensures that learners are receiving the same quality of information. These learning modules can also be tagged or labeled with information about the lesson that can be placed in a searchable database. For instance, a content creator at a high-school could search a database for intermediate lessons about the Pythagorean theorem for the 9th grade level, download the content, and deploy it to an entire school district. This ensures that all of the learners are receiving the same information.

SCORM is designed around being granular and reusable. By breaking down the learning components into topic specific modules the individual lessons can be shared throughout many different applications. The same lessons about the Pythagorean theorem could be incorporated into classes for algebra, geometry, calculus, and trigonometry. The more focused the individual lesson, the easier it is to customized applicable information to fit the learner’s level and educational objective of the lesson. These lessons can also be based on conditional components where a learner could not move on to the next lesson until they fully understand the concepts of the prior lesson in the sequence.

This system of standards can be very beneficial to education as we move into the future. If every institution was connected to a centralized network of reliable and credible sources of information packaged into manageable modules, then we could make sure that our learners are receiving the same quality of education across the board. Even as technologies evolve and the physical platforms that these technologies run on changes, the information contained can migrate along with it.

Advanced Distributed Learning. (2010). SCORM. Retrieved from
http://www.adlnet.gov/Pages/Default.aspx

Kraky Justin Wk1 LMO Overview

There are many differences in online learning environments, particularly in the way these systems are implemented, and what terminology used to describe the individual types of systems available. They have many distinctive names, such as CMS, LMS, LCMS, or PLE, but the function of all of them is primarily the same, to manage digitized content and maximize online delivery. In this blog post I will review each type of system and attempt to point out what makes each one different from the next.

Course Management Systems (CMS)

The Course Management System has its primary home in education to manage materials related to class work. Some key items that set the CMS apart from other online learning solutions are that they are able to integrate with other institutional systems that deal with student class registration, official transcripts and grading progress throughout the students’ careers, as well as connect with online library service systems. The individual courses can also be recycled semester to semester for the upcoming group of students. These systems revolve around the course itself, and the management of users in the course.

Learning Management Systems (LMS)

A Learning Management System is focused on the learner. Where the CMS is course based, the LMS is learner based, addressing the needs of a more diverse group of individuals liked to that in the commercial realm. These systems are used to train and certify employees at a particular company or business, where the learners in a group may be at various levels, ranks, departments or working towards specific certifications. An LMS system focuses on what the learner needs to achieve knowledge and skills.

Learning Content Management System (LCMS)

The Learning Content Management System is the blend of the LMS into the CMS. These were designed originally for very large organizations like the military, where you may have to train a large number of learners in many different areas using smaller training modules and Reusable Learning Objects (RLO). These RLOs could be taken from a library of very specific trainings and adapted to fit an individualized course lesson. In this way subject matter could be constructed out of many smaller pieces without having to recreate the material for each lesson, and can maintain congruency across lessons.

Personal Learning Environments (PLE)

A Personal Learning Environment is the future adaptation of a learning environment where the learner designs their coursework around what they want to learn individually. It is very rooted in social networking where the learner surrounds themselves specifically with experts in the chosen field of study. In this way the learner can customize their learning experience to suit their individual needs. Issues arise with this type of system as far as what methods or standards are used to accredit or validate that the learner is gaining skill. The term PLE is very new, of the last decade, but we may start seeing some systems shift in this direction.

Wk1 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ Blog

The broadness of pedagogy absolutely makes it difficult for a VLE or LMS to address all of the possible needs of the instructor or students. These systems do require in many cases that the instructor rework their strategies to fit into the technology rather than the other way around. I agree with you that if the institution pedagogy begins to shift to align with the societal trends, then we will make more effective use of these technologies in the classroom. I think that we in the EMDT program are in the crest of that wave, and we will be the ones to carry this to the shores of our own institutions making this shift fully realized.

On Friday, August 6th Jeff Kohls wrote:

Course management systems (CMS), learning management systems (LMS), and virtual learning environments (VLE) have grown exponentially since the early 2000s, and have found their foothold in both corporate settings and educational environments. While much of the research that has been done has taken place in institutions of higher education, the implications are that they can be properly facilitated into secondary and primary schools but measuring end-results at all levels is an imperative issue that must be dealt with, either by the CMS vendors or the administering organization. Research also suggests that there is a direct correlation between CMS, LMS, and VLEs, but no clear leader among the three.

Glenda Morgan from the University of Wisconsin suggests that CMS doesn't necessarily improve pedagogy, but instead causes teachers and instructors to rethink and reassess their course instruction and instructional environment (Morgan 2003). The indication is that the course becomes more transparent and accountable thus possibly increasing student success with the materials (Morgan 2003). The potential is there, then, for the implementation of VLEs, which would allow even more transparency into the pedagogical practices of the teacher and have the potential to increase interaction between parents and students with the teacher. However, the implementation of VLEs can often be met with skepticism and disinterest among educators and administrators because, pedagogy is difficult to define, and culturally embedded in institutions (Howell 2006). Because learning institutions have functioned with this culturally embedded notion of what pedagogy is, it can be difficult to introduce the VLE. in 2006, 56% of the United Kingdom's Further Education Institutions (FE) had implemented and successfully used Moodle, which is designed to reflect principles of constructivist learning (Howell 2006).

Constructivism, which is a theory of knowledge, that humans generate knowledge and learning from their experiences (Wikipedia 2010) can be facilitated through VLEs, like Moodle, Ning, Google, and other collaborative software and interactive platforms, such as Full Sail Online, with successful results. If it true that pedagogical practices are culturally embedded in institutions, but the societal paradigm shift has caused that culture to reflect more use of technology and interactivity, then the use of VLEs in learning management systems is a perfect fit. A prime example of this paradigm shift, in higher education, is Full Sail Online and the EMDTMS program. Each and every aspect of this course uses web-based interactive platforms to deliver and receive student work, teacher and course information, while allowing for instantaneous feedback. Viewed by some institutions as different, it merely reflects a shift in the pedagogical paradigm, a shift in the culture of education.

Wk1 Blog Post Comments on Scott Legere’s Blog

You make a very interesting point when you refer to many people not taking online education seriously enough. Most of the time when I tell people that I am working to acquire my masters degree online, they are puzzled and say, “How does that work?”. I agree that there are many benefits that were historically not available to students as they are now in this technological age. I liked the phrase you used, “democratization of information” when referring to the amount of material that the Internet has made accessible to so many. I think one of the goals in the proper use of LMSs is help provide a focused beam of knowledge from all that is out there. Allowing students to receive many different perspectives as easily as browsing a single web page. I share your enthusiasm for the possibilities of distance education, and think of FSO as a great model for how it can be done effectively.

On Wednesday, August 4th Scott Legere wrote:

Honestly, I am not at all surprised that our readings this week trace the origins of distance learning back almost 300 years. More importantly, I think it is critical that supporters of distance learning programs reiterate this fact in light of the many recent criticisms which have been brought to bear on VLEs within the last several months.

I think the social nature of humanity is ingrained deep within our beings. For millennia, we have communicated with each other and passed down information through oral history, hieroglyphics, pictographs, stone tablets, and virtually every other medium discovered. Furthermore, communication and negotiation between peoples is vital to the stability of any civilized community.

Education is but one of the many frameworks through which we communicate. As such, it is only natural that our educational systems incorporate the very tools and resources which our society regularly uses. Whether this phenomenon is manifested in Caleb Phillips' mail order lessons, the University of Alberta's purchase of a IBM 1500 in 1968, or the launch of Jones International University, all of these examples bear a similar educational intent.

More to the point, it was encouraging for me to study the timelines of distance education development. Personally, I've been thrilled with our program here at Full Sail and I would whole heartedly encourage other colleagues considering an advanced degree to look at the EMDT program.

However, as many of us have previously discussed in various blog posts and course assignments throughout the year, there are still many in both the public and professional spheres who are skeptical about online education. Recently, as schools like the University of Pheonix and other for-profit institutions (which rely significantly online resources) have come under federal scrutiny, I've found myself having to defend our program more than ever. While "defend" is probably too harsh a word to accurately describe some of these conversations, it is a shame that all too often online education is trumpeted merely as a convenient and time-saving option for learning.

What I would like to reiterate to parents, teachers, and legislators alike is that for centuries, educators have been working to bring the best tools, resources, and minds together in order to provide for the learning of that era's students. For example, if I were to teach copyright course this fall, I believe it would be in my students' best interests to meet with and discuss intellectual property with Lawrence Lessig, one of the nation's preeminent scholars on the subject. Considering Mr. Lessig's obligations and responsibilities at Harvard Law School, it is very unlikely that this opportunity would come to pass. That said, I could add his book to my syllabus. Better still, we could try and set up a video conference with Mr. Lessig or stream one of his recent lectures.

In any of these scenarios, we are simply trying to pass on the knowledge of an expert to our learners. Personally, I think that VLEs such as Full Sail's portal have tremendous potential to supply educators and students with a wealth of information, communications infrastructure, and the mechanisms to store, catalog, and relay such information in a compelling manner.

Distance learning is not new. Motivated teachers have been leveraging such tools for centuries. However, since the early 1990s, the power of desktop computing and the democratization of information afforded by the development of the Internet has greatly expanded these platforms to near ubiquity. Furthermore, the greater adoption of these systems will only grow as Internet-based communication protocols represent one of the most comprehensive and efficient means to disseminate important content. The debate within our educational system moving forward should not be about the validity of distance education, but rather how such tools are designed, implemented, and maintained in order to best meet the challenging learning goals of our diverse population.

This program has made me a true believer in the potential of online distance education. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to study their evolution (even at a cursory level), as this experience will only further allow me to discuss these valuable tools with a broader and more holistic perspective.

Kraky Justin - Wk1 Blog Post Activity

I was absolutely drawn in by the first chapter of Course Management Systems for Learning: Beyond Accidental Pedagogy (McGee, Carmean, & Jafari, 2005), particularly the concept of no significant difference (NSD) intrigued me. The NSD trend is the observation that despite all of the investments of time, money, and resources into Course Management Systems (CMS), there has been neither measurable advantage nor disadvantage in the overall quality of learning. This is somewhat mind-blowing in many ways. Throughout time humans have created tools to make the task at hand easier, faster, or more productive. How is it that we have a garage full of state-of-the-art tools, and we still have the same throughput of vehicles as we did before the fancy tools? Something doesn’t make sense.

One of the roles of my position at Keystone College is that of part-time Blackboard LMS support, so I have experienced many of the flaws in the system first-hand. Primarily, facilitating a proper level of support for the system requires at least ninety percent of my work time per week, leaving my other duties to fall by the wayside. This fluctuates drastically dependent upon time of year, moving from the end of completely overwhelming to a manageable amount of time required for support. This includes faculty and student training on system usage, user management, course creation, and issue troubleshooting. Secondly, the complexities of a large enterprise LMS like Blackboard means that it is hard enough to teach faculty what it can do and how to navigate within it, let alone how to use it to effectively augment their coursework. For the most part, it seems that these systems have just become a replacement for paper handouts. In itself, this is a great benefit to the environment, but is an overly elaborate means of providing a service that a networked folder could do easily.

Systems like these have the potential of creating a learning environment that make the material so engaging that student would want to learn it. Right now, it seems like we are just making our students jump through a technological hoop just because the hoop is there. This article suggests that we look at the issue of LMS usage not as what features can we cram into the box, but as how are the features enhancing the learning experience, and how do we know that they are enhancing the experience. Grades alone are not reflecting that students have a more comprehensive knowledge of the subject when using a LMS, therefore we need to explore ways of utilizing the technology to engage a deeper understanding of the subject matter so our students are better off having used the technology than not.

McGee, P., Carmean, C., & Jafari, A. (2005). Course Management Systems for Learning: Beyond Accidental Pedagogy. Hersey, PA: The Idea Group.

LMO - Month 10 - EMDTMS - Full Sail University - Justin Kraky

This blog will be used for month 10 coursework in Learning Management Systems and Organization as part of the Education Media Design & Technology Master of Science program at Full Sail University.