Making Online Learning Accessible - A Resource Guide
Presentation with numerous resources for e-learning accessibility, plus tips for instructors
Donald Clark Plan B: Brilliant 35 studies in media and learning
Great summary of research points on our perceptions of media with implications for using media effectively for learning. For example, audio quality matters a lot, but video quality can be low and still effective. Large, wide screens are preferred over higher quality images on smaller screens.
35 psychological studies into the human reaction to media all point towards the simple proposition that people react towards media socially even though, at a conscious level, they believe it is not reasonable to do so. They can't help it. In short, people think that computers are people, which makes e-learning work.
As long as a media technology is consistent with social and physical rules, we will accept it. Read that last part again, 'as long as a media technology is consistent with social and physical rules'. If the media technology fails to conform to these human expectations - we will very much not accept it.
Role Models in Educational Technology on Ada Lovelace Day | Janet Clarey
Extensive list of women in educational technology, including many bloggers. A number of new names for me here.
AG09 - IDZone: Graphic Resources
Graphics and graphic design resources for instructional designers
How to Choose the Right Color Scheme for your e-Learning Project. | LearningChange, Intl - Performance Improvement, Facilitation Training, e-Learning + Instructional Design
Basic tips for color as a communication tool in e-learning
pivote.info
A "virtual learning authoring system for virtual worlds" that allows you to create learning activities that are stored independently of the virtual world. Supports Second Life & OpenSim now, could work in other worlds in the future
Link & Learn Taxes, linking volunteers to quality e-learning
Example of (theoretically) accessible e-learning Section 508 created for the IRS. Publicly available. Lots of little errors though; spaces in alt tags, paragraph tags with formatting instead of header styles, etc. Given as an example in a discussion in a LinkedIn group.
Web 2.0 Selection Criteria: Save Time Choosing an Appropriate Tool | The Sloan Consortium
A checklist of criteria for picking Web 2.0 tools for learning, most of which would apply to any technology
UWM online psych students outperform those in lecture hall class - JSOnline
Comparison of online version of an introductory psych class to the traditional large lecture format. Not surprisingly, when students can work at their own pace and get individualized support, they do better than passive students in a lecture with several hundred other students. The most interesting part about these results to me is that traditionally disadvantaged students were most helped by learning online.
<p>Professor Diane Reddy has replaced the traditional lecture format with an online version of Psych 101. Students learn at their own pace but also have to obtain mastery, demonstrated by passing a quiz on each unit, before they can move on to the next.</p>
<p>Along the way, students get help from teaching assistants who monitor their online activity, identifying weak spots and providing advice - even if the students don't seek it.</p>
<p>Initial evidence says it works: In a study of 5,000 students over two years, U-Pace students performed 12% better on the same cumulative test than students who took traditional Psych 101 with the same textbook and course content, even though U-Pace students had lower average grades than those in the conventional course.</p>
<p>The online model, the study found, was particularly successful for disadvantaged or underprepared students - low-income students, racial and ethnic minorities, and those with low grades or ACT scores. And students in general do better in the class, too, earning a higher percentage of As and Bs than students earn in traditional Psych 101.</p>
An absolutely riveting online course: Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching
Not a whole lot new to me here, but a solid collection of principles to guide online facilitators. If you're looking for an introduction for facilitators or administrators who aren't familiar with online learning or don't really "get" why you can't just shovel face-to-face content into an LMS to have a great course, this would be a good way to help show what's required to go beyond the mediocrity typical of many online courses.
<h3>Principle 1: The online world is a medium unto itself. </h3>
<p>
The search for excellence begins with this principle: The online world is a medium unto itself (Carr-Chellman & Duchastel, 2000; Ellis & Hafner, 2003). It is not just another learning environment, like a separate classroom down the hall; it is a categorically different learning environment. There are vastly different dynamics in online versus on campus courses.</p>
Principle 2: In the online world content is a verb.
We are moving to a mode of learning that is less dependent on information acquisition and is more centered on a set of student tasks and assignments that make up the learning experiences that students will engage in, in order to meet the objectives of the course (Carr-Chellman & Duchastel, 2000). In the online world, content is a verb.
Principle 5: Sense of community and social presence are essential to online excellence.
Establishing a sense of community often signals movement to a deeper learning experience (Benfield, 2001). It is through sustained communication that participants construct meaning (Garrison, et al., 2000) and come to a more complete understanding of the content. Indeed it is through such interaction and through attending to the processes of learning and teaching (as opposed to attending only to content) that a deeper rather than a surface approach to learning is encouraged (Ramsden, 2003). Without this connection to the instructor and the other students, the course is little more than a series of exercises to be completed.
Principle 7: A great web interface will not save a poor course; but a poor web interface will destroy a potentially great course.
Principle 8: Excellence comes from ongoing assessment and refinement.
Concise writing is best for elearning » Making Change
A concise post pulling a bit of research where the lesson with the fewest words resulted in the most learning. Nice argument for keeping your e-learning short, although look at the original to see what they were actually studying in context (scientific processes with cause and effect, using visuals as well as text to explain).
jaysscratchpad » Solving Muliple Edit Problem Using the Include Command
One issue with using wikis for collaborative group projects is that you can't have multiple people simultaneously editing the same page. If all you need is a bunch of separate parts aggregated onto a single page (without any editing to make them all a cohesive document at the end), the technique outlined here would be a good workaround.
The Educational Audio & Video Library | Open Culture
Collection of audio and video for education. Includes audio books, podcasts, music, selected YouTube videos, and university content
Research Based Methods for Using PowerPoint, Animation, and Video for Instruction
Literature review with guidelines for using multimedia effectively for learning. Quick summary of practical tips for educators.
(also found at http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1027892)
Dr. Helen Barrett's E-Portfolio Samples
Collection of online portfolio examples with samples from higher ed, K-12, and faculty
eportfolio examples
Example portfolios by college students from multiple institutions
Essential Elements in Designing Online Discussions to Promote Cognitive Presence — A Practical Experience | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on supporting cognitive presence through designing effective online discussions. The authors goal was to support meaningful interaction in the discussions rather than just playing an "assessment game" where students post the minimum required for grades. The found that discussions did promote cognitive presence and critical thinking. Registration required to read the full PDF article.
Student Experiences Of Using Weblogs: An Exploratory Study | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article summarizing student reactions to using blogs for learning. Some recurring themes in the survey responses were that blogs helped with learning by showing other viewpoints, providing space to organize and collect thoughts, and prompting thorough analysis of the content. Registration required to read the full PDF article.
Facilitating Critical Thinking through Online Courses | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on 10 strategies to help students improve their critical thinking skills. Registration required to read the full PDF article.
"The following ten strategies are proposed: (1) ask questions that can be answered through information seeking, (2) expect students to describe the meanings of their required readings in their own words, (3) motivate students to use effort through grading criteria, (4) stimulate students to give examples of concepts or theories being studied, (5) provide case studies or other examples for application of class content, (6) prompt students to ask questions of each other and the instructor; (7) phrase questions so that additional independent research or reading is required, (8) promote student debates on controversial subjects within the discipline, (9) require students to use journaling, and (10) reinforce students’ use of critical thinking"
The Development Of A Community Of Inquiry Over Time In An Online Course: Understanding The Progression And Integration Of Social | The Sloan Consortium
JALN article on creating a community of inquiry through online discussions, with positive results for students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors found that, at least in this context, cognitive and teaching presence were correlated with both learning and satisfaction, but social presence only improved satisfaction. Registration required to download the PDF.
» Now You Can Design E-Learning Courses Like a Pro The Rapid eLearning Blog
Showing how you can create interactive e-learning even if PowerPoint is your only available tool, with a demo of a frog dissection created in PowerPoint.
e-Portfolios or Assessment Management?
Looking at the differences between e-portfolios and assessment management systems. According to the author, assessment systems are more like traditional grading and are institution controlled rather than being student-centered portfolios.
Tutorials | elearninglive.com
The goal here is to create Flash tutorials specifically for instructional designers and e-learning developers. Right now there's only one tutorial (on creating a drag and drop activity using ActionScript 3.0), but he plans to add more over time.
Sakai 3 Proposal
Vision for what Sakai could look like in the future. The authors envision an LMS based on widgets with lots of flexibility, social networking, and content creation tools. The proposed changes to the organization (doing away with sites) would make Sakai much more flexible outside of a traditional academic course environment. The ability to have groups persist outside of courses would allow cohorts to be part of a group together, which creates some interesting possibilities.
"In summary, our ambition is not merely an incremental improvement of Sakai nor is it to copy Google. Our goal is not simply to create a better and cheaper version of Blackboard. It is time to arrive at a clearer understanding of the capabilities that represent needs unique to education and for the Sakai community to focus its development effort on providing these capabilities while taking advantage of established open‐source efforts to provide more generic capabilities. We should, in short, strive to create a different type of academic collaboration system."
My Top 25 blogs for 2008 | The E-learning Curve at Edublogs
Michael Hanley has collected his list of top 25 blogs, related to e-learning, learning, training, and education. I'm on the list, and I recognize most of the names here, but there are some blogs that are new to me.
100 Conversation Topics : eLearning Technology
A list to go to when you're stumped for something to blog about. Imagine you had a conversation about one of these 100 topics related to learning, e-learning, and technology.
Collaboration Tools : eLearning Technology
Text version and list of tools for screen sharing, VOIP, video conferencing, web conferencing, multimedia presentations, file sharing, and more. The mind map version might be easier to understand than the text list, but having the list as a starting point for your own research is nice.
eLearning Tool Chest
E-Learning book reviews, software reviews, industry news
Usability in eLearning « eLearning Weekly
Brief intro to usability and a collection of resources for usability and usability testing
NSSE 2008 Results
Results from the National Survey of Student Engagement. The full report has limited information about online learning, but does include results showing that students in online courses report more deep learning, intellectual challenge, and reflection than those in face-to-face courses.