This is the final week of blogging and wikiing and I must say that I shall miss it.
When I started the PGC in VET course I was very much worried how I would cope with the then mysterious eLearning Module.
Things got worse when I realised that such Module would be worked out in the month of June, the month of time constrained assignments, corrections and end of the year results issue.
And then can Vanessa. I confess that a teacher has a lot of influence over her students and I must thank our tutor for inspiring confidence in us from the first lesson.
What was unfamiliar to me became familiar immediately and I was blogging and wikiing away regularly and eagerly after just a lesson!
The Presentation task was the biggest challenge but as a team these were surmounted and the production was completed in record time. My skills at video editing were put to good use and since then I have been working on other video presentations that I shall use in my lectures come September.
And what about the Moodle? I wish IBAC had such software as I would surely put it to good use and involve my students in the forums etc etc.
ELearning has been a very positive experience for me and I am determined to continue studying further.
Module 3 has definitely been my favourite one. What about you?
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I must say that I was not as sceptic as Tonio about the e-learning sessions, but I still had a couple of question marks as to how this module would be undertaken. However, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I have learnt a lot from the blogs contributed by the other students – and have also realised how limited my knowledge of the e-world is!
ReplyDeleteThrough the blogs I have got to know of different search methods, different ways of presenting lessons, ways of capturing and keeping the students interests and methods of introducing e-learning into our classrooms. I have also been introduced to different programmes and site which can be used for teaching.
All in all I must say that it has been a very fruitful experience!
What a great way to end the week, Ton! Prosit for that!
ReplyDeleteFor me it was a very steep learning curve. I believe that my scepticism oozes through especially in my initial writings. It has never been hard for me to express myself in words so I did enjoy the blogs. The forums and wikis were a harder pill to swallow because the subject is soooo new to me. I felt a bit bad because, as Suzanne wrote, I was learning a lot through the contributions of my other colleagues. Yet, perhaps, I could not contribute enough by way of innovative and creative techniques on how to utilize technology. I do not know whether the following is a stupid question but will we continue having access to all the resources and information that has been submitted, so that we can refer to it in the future?
This module has definitely given me the courage to be less fearful of change… Thank you Ms Vee!
I would like to actually thank all the course participants for making this course possible. Without all your contributions this course would have been bland and futile. So thanks to all. It was, I have to say an extremely interesting and fun experience for me, and I can honestly now say, that it took a lot of effort from all of us. Regarding what's next, I also think that there is a lot of useful material and knowledge in these blogs and wikis, which cannot really go wasted. From my part, I have sent some recommendations, that the Wiki for example is exploited further. If someone assumes responsibility for its moderation, editing and general maintenance, it would be an excellent resource across all MCAST institutes. As for the Blogs, it is definitely the place to start from if MCAST wish to carry out a needs analysis for possible uptake of e-Learning tools. The amount of insight, experiences and knowledge is quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo once again these are my contributions, I am glad to have contributed towards making this course fun but most importantly useful, but I assure you that each one of you were the prime contributors of its success. Thank you.
Tonio I agree with Marthese, well done. Yes what I can say is that I actually learnt a lot from both the lectures that Ms. Vanessa Camilleri delivered and all the contributions. There were times where I continued to research because I wanted to learn more on the topic discussed. I did not realise what we can actually do with all this technology at hand.
ReplyDeleteWhat we need is time to build up the teaching resources and a good IT infrastructure. I also agree with Tonio that we should encourage our Institute to promote Moodle, at least we start from somewhere!!
From what I can see the majority of the lecturers got interested in e-learning and are currently experimenting with tools to build up their presentations. I also wish to thank staff members for sharing their knowledge with me and my team.
I suggest that similar e-learning lectures are delivered to all staff members at MCAST including administration.
Thanks to all, this was a great experience :)
I myself must say that I was a bit wary (a bit is perhaps understating it) about the e-learning module as I am no IT guru. However, I must say that this was the most interesting module by far and had the most interesting approach to the assessment of it. I loved the freedom of being able to choose the subjects I liked and I must say that I was not sure whether I had it right the first time round. Our mind is not set to choose our own subjects of study, at least, not mine. Even though our areas of study have been our own choice, the sub-topics were not always chosen out of our own free will, sometimes they just had to be done compulsorily. This module has been a breath of fresh air indeed and I must say that I am more than happy to know all about moodle, blog and wiki. At the tutorial today it was mentioned that moodle will be closed when this course reaches its end...on the contrary, I would like this to be kept open and to propagate its followers. In 2010, why shouldn't all the institutes of MCAST be involved in such a community of learners...yes, learners, because apart from being teachers, we must also always be learning. In today's day and age, when we talk of lifelong learning, having Moodles, Wikis and Blogs could be an alternative to doing part-time courses. Online interaction and exchange of information and ideas is indeed enlightening and not to be underestimated in its validity as knowledge. This has been a great module and what we have learnt should be kept up rather than just geared towards achieving a Certificate and that's the end of it. I do hope this suggestion will not fall on deaf ears.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the participants for their insightful contributions as well as Mrs. Vee for the patience, consideration and excellent organisation of it all.
Like most of my colleagues, I was a bit apprehensive before the start of this module as, not being a computer expert, I didn’t know what to expect. However following the first lecture and my first blog I am finding this e-learning module much more interesting than I had anticipated. I enjoy using the different applications which I had never used before including Moodle. In fact recently, during some talks on a possible partnership project with a foreign University, Moodle was mentioned as a platform that can be used to communicate. At the time I did not know what it was or how to use it and now, that I know, I am appreciative. Moreover during the tutorial I was glad to find out some applications that I can use in class to make learning and teaching more interactive and interesting. One such tool is Hot Potatoes that can be used to make simple quizzes and crosswords. Finally I must say that the E-learning assignment has been the one that I enjoyed most doing mainly because like Priscilla said we had a certain amount of freedom to choose the subjects ourselves. Moreover as the presentation involves new things, notwithstanding the fact that the timing is not ideal (as I have assignments to close off), I am enjoying it and hope that the final result will be a good one and that I will be able to use it next year with my students.
ReplyDeleteUltimately I also wish that these new tools that we have learnt about are now integrated at Institute level so we can put what we learnt to practice.
Like my colleagues I also take this opportunity to thank everyone especially our lecturer for this experience.
Mildred
This module was one of my favourites, as Tonio said. I don't know if it is my very favourite... yet. Me and my group still need to finish the YouTube video presentation, and it's a pretty hefty amount of work... more than I thought it would be. We're enthusiastic about it, though, and that's always a plus. :)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of enthusiasm, I think that our teacher exudes enthusiasm for this subject, and this has influenced each and every one of us, and that's why most of us like this module. Food for thought for each and every one of us when we go face those classes in the next scholastic year.
I must say that I was quite looking forward to module 3 as Elearning was promising to be a different unit from the rests - and I surely cannot say that we have been disappointed.
ReplyDeleteElearning has given us the chance to try working with blogs, wiki and moodle which I would not have had the opportunity to do if it had not been for this unit. I must say that I have enjoyed the experience of using the blogs most, and I am looking forward to trying to use this with my students in the coming scholastic years.
At the moment me and my group are still finishing off the YouTube Video Presentation, which has certainly included a lot of work - more than we thought it would originally - but we're enthusiastic about finishing off the video and have a good outcome.
On the whole this module has been a very good experience – the only thing I wish is that we had more time on our hands to explore these applications better.
I also agree with most of you. Personally, I was not so sceptic about module 3 but rather I was looking forward as this was a new approach for me; although I am definitely no computer expert! Through the blogs and moodle I got to know many new ideas on how to make my lessons more interesting and also I learned how to use new tools which I definitely intend to keep on utilising. I only wish we had more time, so that we could explore the new tools better, but of course now I am more motivated to keep on exploring these new tools by myself.
ReplyDeleteWe are also using the movie maker for our group presentation and I really got interested in this tool. Although the presentation is taking a considerable amount of time to be done, we are enthusiastic about doing it and we are really into editing now... we’re actually enjoying it! For sure this will not be the last time we will utilise this tool to produce video clips to be used in class.
This module really managed to grasp my interest and I would like to thank everyone for sharing his/her experiences/ideas. A special thanks goes to our lecturer Ms. Vanessa Camilleri, as she managed to inject us with her enthusiasm and passion towards this area.
Reading the comments above I agree with all of you! At first when I knew that I got a module about e-learning I was little bit confused about what the content should be about. Following the steps and moodle content this module motivates our learning. Everyday I had to log in to the blog to check for the new topics and comments posted everyday by my collegues. It was like logging into my e-mail to check my daily mail!
ReplyDeleteI found e-learning quite useful to be used as a teaching aid for the next scholastic year. I would like to thank our lecturer Ms Vanessa Camilleri for the excellent job she did for this module and the work done to prepare the content and material to be helpful and easy to use for me since it was my first experience. It was also a great effort for all the lecturers to post blogs and wiki during the busiest time of the year, correcting assignments and examinations. But on the whole we also managed to do this!
I was sort of resistant to this module due to the fact that I didn’t know what to expect. But at the same time I was looking forward to it because I understand the importance and relevance of such subject to today's education and society at large.
ReplyDeleteI must say that I found this Module very useful. I always wanted to explore more the use of Blogs, Moodle and YouTube and I must say that this was a good opportunity to familiarize myself with such tools and understand better their usefulness. I also enjoyed shooting the YouTube video with my friends. Although it was quite demanding and it occurred in a very busy period, it helped me to explore myself more and discovers other things which I can use in my teaching.
I think this was the most practical module out of the four. I work at the ICT institute and being IT literate, I thought this would be a boring module as there would be nothing new to learn. But I have to admit I was wrong.
ReplyDeletee-Learning is more than just IT. Throughout the module delivery we have seen quite a good number of learning methodologies which we were not aware of before. I also think the way we were assessed (through blogs, wikis, forums, video etc..)was very effective, much more than just writing a traditional essay.
As someone else said, over the last four weeks I faced a steep learning curve. But I must add that it was an enlightening and enjoyable experience during which I learnt about many topics that I was either unaware of or just had a faint idea.
ReplyDeleteLearning came in various forms and ways.
First and foremost it was thanks to Vanessa. She is dynamic, extremely helpful, available at all times (I would dare say 24/7!) and an extremely talented and effective teacher. Her lectures were focused on the real essence of what we had to learn in this module. She did not waste time. She was sharp and very informative.
Secondly learning came from you, my colleagues. Your contributions on the Blogger and Wiki, our experience sharing during the lectures and whenever we met both on and off campus helped me in no small way to learn a lot on eLearning and on the various tools and applications available.
Finally the team presentation to upload on YouTube. It has been a big challenge for us and has helped us acquire new skills apart from improving in our co-ordination and teamwork. To be honest we’re still working on the final touches, but I am sure that the result will help show that we did learn a lot from Module 3.
I agree with my colleagues that Module 3 was very fruitful. I really hope that we will have the opportunity to continue to build on what we learnt in our teaching roles for the benefit of the students, ourselves and MCAST.
The final words:
Thank You Vanessa! :)
Blogs 23-6-10
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you this module was the most interesting even though it was the one I was dreading most. Ms Vanessa certainly enlightened us on e learning and I learnt a lot from blogs moodle and wiki. I do hope we will set up our own blogs with students and exchange news about lecturing and our own experiences through moodle. I have made up my mind that after finishing the long essay, assignments and portfolio I am going to further my studies at my own leisure in IT.
It is not too late to learn and I want to be confident and make good use of the new technology available. This will certainly be an asset in lecturing. So a big thank you goes to Ms Vanessa and to all of you for your contributions. I do hope that this does not stop here and look forward to keeping up this excellent work.
I wouldn't mind moderating/editing the Wikis. Anything as long as it's text-based and there are no videos to be clipped or transitions to time! :)
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea of learning on eLearning by experiencing it. As Vanessa said in the introductory lesson, eLearning is much more than just blogging but I am sure that with the many restrictions that she had, the set of tools that we used was a good compromise.
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea of eLearning very much, and I think it really suits my style of learning as I prefer to take control of my learning.
What I certainly missed was socializing with other colleagues of the course. Certainly the blogs and forum support group discussion but I thing that nothing replaces face to face interaction. I think this is one of the greatest challenges of eLearning.
I must say that this has been also for me a very interesting experience. Thanks to our tutor Ms. Camilleri for making this at all possible. I also would like to point out that I got much more accustomed to the blogging experience. Although I agree with Ranier that face to face experience is always better, it is a good way to keep updated views and opinions.
ReplyDeleteThe internet and IT in general has redefined our way of living, from the way we exchange information, the way we do business right up to the way we make new friends.
ReplyDeleteWe have grown into new ways of being as necessitated (dictated is perhaps too harsh a word) by the digital revloution.
As a lecturer in Fine Arts with a relatively strict academic background I have struggled to embrace the introduction of new media and 'technological' applications to fine art practice and even if in recent years I have warmed up to the idea that there can be something like 'internet art' (with all the questions about authorship that come with it)I still lack the full confidence in teaching them to students.
I was, and to a certain extent, still am a bit sceptical as to how can I teach subjects like 'drawing/painting from observation' via elearning. Some have suggested that I could use tools like Microsoft surface but this presents innumerable technical difficulties.
As yet the best application I found for the internet in my teaching is as a reference tool and as a way of communicating efficiently to my students remotely.
Digital arts already have a very important presence in the art-world today and it is up to us, to me as a teacher, to study and deliver the subject in a knowledgeable and responsible way. On the other hand I often have to compromise the 'digital' input to my class due to lack of resources.
I am intrigued by the many possibilities which the future holds ...
I cannot but agree with my friends and colleagues who have written before me in this blog. Over the last four weeks I have learnt a lot about e-Learning. I was really uninformed and unacquainted about the subject until I attended the lectures and practised on Moodle, Blogger and worked with various software applications.
ReplyDeleteThis Module has already started to influence me in my work. I have already started to apply some skills that I have learnt in preparing presentations and including e-content in my lectures. The students are already showing a greater interest in the lessons and I feel more motivated and satisfied in my work.
I have to add that the blogs have also helped to cross-fertilise a lot of ideas from one institute to another. It was very interesting to learn what our colleagues at the other institutes were doing, and I learnt a lot from them.
Finally, I have to say a big thank you to all my colleagues and especially Ms Vanessa Camilleri for their help and support. It was really fun working with you all!
Like my IICT colleagues, I was also reluctant on following a course about a subject I have to deal with as a daily routine. However, I must admit that, as Einstein once said, “the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.’
ReplyDeleteThrough the research I carried out for the wiki and blog contributions I have met new ideas and technologies which can enhance my lessons, thus increasing the students’ motivation (and also my motivation).
I have also read various opinions and point of views about various subjects (not just technological ones) which have made me think and evaluate current matters, facts and situations, thus developing better-formed opinions.
I think we should all be proud that all this was possible through the hard work of each and every one of us. This was a positive experience, which I will surely make use of in the coming teaching years.
I started this course being a bit sceptic... since I didn’t believe much in the potential of e-learning as a way to efficient teaching. However, through these past 5 weeks I learnt that e-learning can be very efficient especially when considering the amount of tools that are made available to us lecturers – even for free.
ReplyDeleteI think that the fact that the majority of this module in the PGC in VET course was carried out actually through e-learning was a great idea, since this gave us hands on experience on the approach to this methodology as students. Hence, we are now in a better position to identify the difficulties that students might enounter in such a course and we can also highlight the best approaches to take both to overcome the difficulties and also as an means towards a way forward. I especially enjoyed the introduction to the use of new media and technology, especially the software, which for its majority we can also make use of during our class lectures for better visuals and student comprehension, at least until we are given guidance on whether we can start using blended teaching methods with our students, here at MCAST.
I found this module really interesting. I was looking forward for this module since I thought that it would require less time than the other modules and we wouldn't need to stay for lectures after work. In reality this module took the same amount of time!
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I was not aware of the educational revolution! Now that I've been exposed to it I need to work harder to make my lessons more interesting and meaningful to the students.
Thanks to Ms Vanessa whose enthusiasm about the subject has motivated us since the very first lecture!
The main point that I have learnt is that in e-learning, one has to focus on the 'learning' rather than the 'electronic' part.
ReplyDeleteI am following a distance learning MSc course and I have gone through modules where the course itself was not much better than actually reading a book on my own. Other than that, some modules were very interesting where the tutors inticed the course participants to take part in the discussions and gave good and timely feedback on assignments and tasks.
From the lessons and research I have gone through I have also appreciated the fact that a need has to be established before taking all the work to set up an e-learning system for your institute. This is because if you just do such a system for the sake of technology then effective learning is not likely to take place.
As many have already expressed, even for me this was one of favourite modules to follow in the PGC course. Not only did I learn more about blogs, forums, and wiki contributions while doing tasks, but it was also a great experience in working with my other teaching peers and finding common ground, such as with the youtube presentation.
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank Vanessa and also the rest of the people taking place in the course for providing such a rich learning experience which I'll be sure to draw immensely from in my future course deliveries. Well done to all :)
My e-learning experience has been a great one. I have to say that I was not too sure how it was going to be presented but I was looking forward to becoming familiar to a new method of teaching/learning. The use of blogs, wiki and forums has been an eye-opener. They have put forward an interesting means of teaching and learning which can be a very useful tool for my teaching future. They have also provided me with a lot of relevant and interesting information which I can use. I have also become more familiar with the use of other programmes and technologies which can enhance my lessons. This module had an added bonus – I could select what most was interesting for me and pursue it from home!
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank our lecturer Ms Vanessa Camilleri for making the lessons we had so interesting and interactive. Thanks for all your help and support.
I must say that I too initially felt a bit daunted by the idea of e-Learning as my academic background had not required a particularly strong base in this area. I had used some related software (Illustrator and Photoshop) during my University years but that was probably how far my e-learning experience stretched. And unfortunately, due to a particularly busy phase in my work schedule at the start of this module, I could not devote as much time as I wished to it. Over the past few days however I have gained more confidence and seem to be getting to grips with it and getting more out of the process of blogging, wikiing and using other tools, such as Moodle.
ReplyDeleteBut, like Gilbert above, I too as an Art teacher (Textiles and 3D design) am still not hundred per cent confident about applying e-learning and e-teaching in my classes. Although I feel that Textiles and 3D design is an area that could lend itself, more than Fine Arts, to e-learning, for example in design, pattern cutting, technical drawings, I am still trying to work out the best way of teaching it. Lack of resources also is a problem. My workshop does not include a single computer for students’ use and any reference or research work my students could conduct would have to be done either in the library, itself rather limited in space and apparatus, or at home.
I agree with Mark’s comments. Form me it would have been better if only I had more time to dedicate to it. In my long assay I’m work on how to deploy more e-learning techniques to aid better tutorials thus I found this module very interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy experience is different from many of you. I thought this module would be less time consuming. I didn't reserve much energy or it and although it was great not to have lectures, it took me ages to post decent contributions due mainly to the level and length of some of the comments. I do wish I could still have some kind of access esp to moodle and all the resources posted on it maybe in the future I will have some time to try out the various ideas. Thanks Vanessa
ReplyDelete