The Australian Government lists the following Web-based tools and applications commonly used by VET Teachers:
LORN (Learning Object Repository Network) - LORN provides access to learning resources from a variety of learning material collections. TeacherTube - Provides search functionality for teaching videos developed by teachers worldwide stored in a single repository. Blogger – May be used as a tool to communicate with students by posting teaching schedules, progress reports, assignment due dates, examination times etc. del.icio.us - Bookmarking service that allows users to store tags on a centralised website thus providing access to bookmarks from any computer connected to the internet. Flickr - Source of graphics for learning resources. Google Maps - Access to satellite imagery and street maps. Survey Monkey – May be used by teachers to gather feedback from students or as assessment tools. Wikispaces - Wikis can be useful to students needing to produce a single document when working as a group on a set project. YouTube - Centralised storage for both teacher and learner produced videos.
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All these tools sound very interesting. I am familiar with many of them and along with the ones we have learnt about lately like Hot Potatoes, Scratch and Xtranormal they can help teachers. VET teachers tend to find less 'ready made' resources unless its direct from BTEC etc than other teachers so we tend to have to make our own resources from current events. We have been told many times that our students will work in jobs that do not yet exist which makes it even more important for us to be on the forefront of technology when given the knowledge, resources and time to do so.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting indeed, considering that we are familiar with most of the tools which have been mentioned. In fact, I found a report about how virtual learning can be integrated in education, including vocational education. I like the idea mostly because through such tools the world of work can be simulated which helps students to develop the skills and competences that are required by industry. One should stress this factor, given that VE is different from the rest of higher education. The site is: //tecfa.uniqu.ch/tecfa/publicat/dil-papers-2/Dil.7.5.18.pdf
ReplyDeleteThis is very intersting. This site has very useful information regarding elearning tools. I think some of these tools would prove to be very valuable in class. The link is: http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/networks.htm#tet
ReplyDeleteVery interesting especially TeacherTube thanks:)
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting to learn about these tools, if one has enough time and is motivated to learn how to use them. I think that this kind of modern technology is very useful to contact students to fix appointments and to announce assignment dead lines and to post notes, but I also think that the lack of personal contact and the lack of body language is a very big disadvantage when learning on-line.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting to have E-learning tools for Vocational Education Teachers, this would includes a very effective system of tools which enables students to improve their communicative skills, co-operational and problem-solving abilities, adapting themselves to teamwork by applying ICT tools. The main target of this project is to elaborate the teachers' initial and further training programs which enables them to use the methods of cooperative learning in the framework of e-learning.
ReplyDeleteVocational Education training is an application of innovative, cooperative methods and the possibilities provided by modern technologies play a significant role in the individualized learning-teaching process, in competence development and in lifelong learning.
I think that these tools are very interesting. One of the difficulties I find with my students is to keep them interesting in the subject when covering theoretical sections. Somehow they always find something to complain about, either its early, or its hot…I think that you know what I’m talking about. The frustrating thing is that the practical and theoretical sides are always linked and they cannot understand one without the other. What usually happens is that in the practical session, I have to stop and repeat parts of the theory which was previously discussed in class. Maybe with the use of these tools, some subjects can be made more appealing for the students. However, I think that from the lecturer’s perspective, the use of these tools would lead to much longer lesson preparation.
ReplyDeleteI have spent some time exploring Australia's LORN, and cannot but comment on how well-organised this infrastructure is within a VET Context. One immediately notices that each repository includes these main fields:
ReplyDelete- Competency
- Educational Level
- Discipline
- Keywords
- Version
This shows the professionalism with which not only the material was prepared, but rather how it was accredited, organised and catalogued for easy retrieval. This necessarily requires a good number of hours of preparation and serious commitment towards maintaining the system integrity.
Unluckily, I think that over-enthusiasm to use a particular technology, for the sake of using technology in itself, many times leads to many shortcuts being taken and field-content omitted. From experience, using our Moodle system at IICT has proved a big step forward, but at the same time one can easily notice for example, that some units still don't even have a course description included after two years, but simply display the default message: "Write a concise and interesting paragraph here that explains what this course is about."
It is very interesting to see the relevance of what we are learning in view of contemporary practice. After this module I feel more confident with most of the tools mentioned above. All I need now is some personal experimentation to understand better how I can apply them to my practice.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the next step now is to use what we have learned and practiced in this module and implement it in our teaching. Only in this way can elearning evolve and be incorporated as part of our tools for teaching.
Another tool that I find useful in class is Dropbox which you can get free subscription from here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTI5NzE3NTg5
Dropbox is a tool that eliminates the need to carry a pen drive with you. It creates a folder on your local disk and synchronizes the files in this folder on all PCs you use, provided that Dropbox client is installed.
Lecturers can use this facility to share their files from home to school. Students can use this by having their assignments shared between home and schools as well without the risk of forgetting to bring the pen drive or losing data due to hardware failure. Files can also be shared to other individuals, even those that do not use dropbox.
Dropbox is also available on mobile devices like iPhone, iPad and Android.
I came across this e-Learning magazine at http://www.elearnmag.org/
ReplyDeleteSome of the articles explain the various concepts of e-learning which are presently being adopted in the UK. I found the article about role-plays in e-learning particularly interesting. I had never considered role-plays as part of my teaching method since I always thought that they were not technical enough to explain building technology. However, I realised that in their future employment my students will also be giving a customer service... so why not try!? However, upon reading this article various ideas came to mind with repect to this approach.
Basically, in e-learning virtual role-playing, learners can listen to a question or comment, record their response, and then play back the conversation to evaluate their performance.
This may be used either within an e-learning course or as a supplemental session. These activities can be designed to test learners at several levels. Learners can practice scripted responses to common scenarios, answer a few questions to get help in formulating the appropriate response, or follow prompts about the appropriate points to include or potential pitfalls to avoid and create their own responses. Learners can record and play back their responses as many times as necessary until they feel they can respond appropriately every time. Each attempt by a learner is reported to the learning management system, where a training coach or the learner's supervisor can review them as well.
Hence, this is another tool to keep in mind when developing an e-learning course.