It would be helpful for me if you can give me some feedback about the use of web based technology in this module.

Would you please comment on how useful the following have been in helping you to learn:

• the module web site;
• the module blog (this blog);
• your module blog;

Would you also add any ideas you might have to make these technologies more useful in helping you to learn or suggest any of the other technologies you have looked at in the module which might aid your learning.

Thank you for your help

Rowland

This article give a comprehensive account of how blogs might be used to assist in learning. There are some excellent examples given from the experience of the author’s and others and overall it provides a useful framework for thinking about how we might use a blog in our own learning.

It provides an interesting example of getting feedback from students about how they used a blog in their own learning. However I am not convinced of the usefulness of numerical feedback data gathered by a “tick box” questionnaire  and prefer the richer data obtained by open ended questions. T be fair to this study it does use both types of data and the conclusions from each type back one another up.

They conclude “In short, blogs have the potential, at least, to be a truly transformational technology in hat they provide students with a high level of autonomy while simultaneously providing opportunity for greater interaction with peers.”

A conclusion that has been borne out in my own research.

For this evaluation I am using Konrad Glogowski (2007) Creating Learning Experiences Blog of Proximal Development.

Again there is a lot of useful information on this blog which needs to be looked at in more detail. However the main point being made here about the web2.0 technologies is the freedom they give for the user to make a contribution to the debate about a particular topic. It is the ease with which the ideas can be published and the way that the user is empowered and made to feel in control of their own  publishing environment which is seen to be important.

He argues that students become much more interested in learning because they become immersed in the learning experience and are a lot less concerned about seeking grades. Hover his students are fairly young and there may be some doubt as to how well this would transfer into the Higher Education Sector.

For this evaluation I am using Matthew Ashton (2007) Using Facebook for online learning Matt’s weblog for online learning.

Initially this post was a little disappointing. It had a useful summary of some of the characteristics that are needed for effective on-line learning but it did not discuss in any detail the degree to which Facebook had these characteristics. The list of attributes he gives could be a useful start for an evaluation but they need to be applied to the particular web publishing applications to be used.

However this is not the only post on this blog and it will be well worth trawling other posts to get some further ideas about how web2.0 technologies can be useful to enhance learning.

The resource I am evaluating  is Tony Karrer (2007) eLearning Technology: Facebook as a Learning Platform , E-learning Technology Blog.

On this blog there is an interesting discussion of the way that students have been using facebook for their own purposes although he does suggest that they are more concerned with making money than using the site for learning.

The blog post contains a useful outline of what Facebook actually is and how it works and continues to argue that because so many students are now already Facebook users it is not so much of a problem to get them started on using the site for learning  as they are alreadyfamiliar with how to use it. he also maintains that it is easy to set up Facebook applications.

He finally discusses the use of Facebook as a learning platform  but seems to base his argument on the ease of use rather than going into details of exactly how the environment would be useful for learning.

By setting one box within another and giving the inner boxes relative coordinates with respect to the outer box we can allow such things as headers to be displaced from the content.

As relative positioning is being used in the inner boxes then the outer reference box can be moved to another part of the screen and the positioning will still work.

You can see the HTML by loading the example using the link above and using view source in your browser.The CSS can be seen by linking to it on the FTP site.

To upload the file you have to click on the files link at the top of the wiki home page and upload a file in the normal manner by browsing for it on your local computer or USB key.

This will be a useful way of displaying our work to others so that we can get feedback on it. However you may find it easier to create your own wiki so that you have all of the storage space to yourself and you don’t have to worry about duplicate file names from other people.

It was good to meet you at the first session and I hope that you gained something from the session. I look forward to reading your blogs over the next week or so.

I particularly recommend that you use a portable version of Firefox on a USB key. You might also want to take a look at the web design program NVU. we will be looking at these in more detail next session.

I have also update the links to your blogs so you should be able to go to everybody’s blog from this page. Except those who have not yet given me their blog address

I think I have updated all the links which were not functioning correctly. Please let me know if you come across any others and I will put them right.

This post is here to allow you to have a go at adding a comment to a blog post.

Later you will be putting posts on your own blog so that others in the group can comment.

If the input box is not visible near the bottom of the page click on the comment link below.

Add your login details and put your comment in the comment input box. You might want to say who you are and why you are doing the module.

Don’t forget to click the submit comment button