Even though the Eurovision Song Contest is now over, I thought of posting something on the impact YouTube has had over the past years in this field. We all remember the times when Malta used to invest in passionate videos for this so-loved contest, as a showcase of what our islands have to offer. I am hereby including some old songs for those who recall the old days.
Little Child (1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwijCMW0Srw
Keep Me in Mind (1995)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g_8QhRO8qw
Let Me Fly (1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53x6CRp9uxA&feature=related
Seventh Wonder (2002)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIYaBA2K9PU
My point is that today, where the budget seems to have been restricted in producing such music videos, we should manage in a more proper way the material which goes on YouTube, particularly when it comes to quality. It is a well known fact that most Eurovision fans are young generations who surely make use of such sites...and therefore what goes up there influences their televoting decisions too!!!
The same can be said for the comments posted on forums and even on YouTube itself. It doesn't make much sense to me to offend other countries (in any case) and always play the victim of neighbouring country voting, when knowing that such comments will be available year after year. Moreover it is not wise for Maltese users to negatively comment on the Maltese Entry in a foreign language. Criticism is OK, but one must pay attention how to use it. Even when Chiara represented Malta with 'Angel' and later on with 'What if We', the hard comments were not a very positive experience, especially for the singer.
This year, if one just browses through YouTube, many versions of Thea's 'My Dream' were available, in different quality and from different shows! One wonders which one would have been welcomed most... One of the official video links is available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OToHVvkBfY
Using this tool correctly can yield much greater achievements! Just recall Susan Boyle and her quick success! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY...Just look at the number of Views!!!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
FIFA World Cup Fever sends Internet usage to record levels
Thanks for technology, thanks to e-learning, thanks for the internet. The World Cup and other sporting events can be enjoyed by millions of users from around the world, while keeping on their rhythm at work. In fact, as can be seen from the post below, during the World Cup opening ceremony and the first match between Mexico and South Africa, the internet reported a high surge of internet access, about 12 million per minute (around 200,000 requests per second).
Can such sporting events entice people to make more use of the internet? What do you think?
From:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/world-cup-fever-sends-internet-usage-to-record-levels/35753
There’s a fever running through the Internet today - World Cup Fever.
Can such sporting events entice people to make more use of the internet? What do you think?
From:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/world-cup-fever-sends-internet-usage-to-record-levels/35753
There’s a fever running through the Internet today - World Cup Fever.
Today’s Web traffic has been classified as “Heavy” for the better part of the day, according to measurements by Akamai. At its peak, traffic for News sites globally started a steady climb about 6 am ET and peaked six hours later, at Noon ET, reaching nearly 12.1 million visitors per minute.
And even though the traffic dipped going into the afternoon, it stayed well above normal - registering some 6.5 million vpn, or 130 percent of normal - at 5 p.m. ET. The bulk of the demand in the last 24 hours has come from North America and Europe - but all regions are reporting “Heavy” usage.
The traffic suggests that the Internet was most active during the Mexico-South Africa game and stayed heavy through the France-Uruguay game. It’s also very likely that today being a workday had more people turning to their office computers to follow the action, instead of their TVs.
The day’s traffic far exceeded the previous record of 8.5 million vpm, which was set when Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election.
WebQuests - Students as Investigators!
A WebQuest as the term implies is a web-based, inquiry-oriented activity with the aim to guide students in online learning. During the scholastic year most of us give students either projects or assignments to be worked in groups.
The use of WebQuests will help students to work in groups more effectively. The main objective of the activity is to promote critical thinking and ‘transformative’ learning outcomes, accomplished through the reading, analysis, and synthesis of web-based information. In fact a good advantage in using WebQuests is that students need to use more their thinking abilities and are required to compare, contrast, make decisions and recommendations accordingly. Therefore they cannot lean on a quick cut and paste for their answers.
Here are two WebQuest examples:
http://questgarden.com/104/96/8/100612112623/index.htm
http://questgarden.com/80/56/4/090414191926/index.htm
If WebQuest is structured properly then students will learn through discovery. This higher level of thinking is what we teachers are striving for all students to achieve. Therefore, when students participate in WebQuests they will learn to search effectively, evaluate what they find, and put it to use.
Through my experience and what my colleagues say it seems that most of our students do not actually know how to conduct a proper research. WebQuest provides a guided research. Therefore we teachers can help students to improve their research skills by the use of WebQuests.
Quiz Games in Lectures
In this post I would like to discuss the positive impact that, I believe, quiz-oriented games can have in our lectures. When I was younger what I liked to play the most were not the usual games that others used to play, such as the sims or black and white...
I really used to enjoy The Weakest Link for example (which is the PC game inspired by a show on BBC). http://www.gamespot.com/pc/puzzle/weakestlink/index.html
I also really liked Family Feud, which is also a quiz game:
http://www.gamefools.com/onlinegames/free/FamilyFeud2.html
I have been thinking that such games can be educational for our students and at the same time fun to play. It would be nice if there existed a quiz pack which schools could buy. Ideally this would consist of a set of buzzers (that would be fun..) and what's most important is that the software would allow the teacher to input his/her own questions, and possibly even shuffle them.
I know Moodle has a quiz feature but it is not so fun...
I really used to enjoy The Weakest Link for example (which is the PC game inspired by a show on BBC). http://www.gamespot.com/pc/puzzle/weakestlink/index.html
I also really liked Family Feud, which is also a quiz game:
http://www.gamefools.com/onlinegames/free/FamilyFeud2.html
I have been thinking that such games can be educational for our students and at the same time fun to play. It would be nice if there existed a quiz pack which schools could buy. Ideally this would consist of a set of buzzers (that would be fun..) and what's most important is that the software would allow the teacher to input his/her own questions, and possibly even shuffle them.
I know Moodle has a quiz feature but it is not so fun...
Monday, June 14, 2010
Different Models of E-learning
Four different models of e-learning were identified by Roberts and Jones (2000). These models are (i) the naïve model, (ii) the standard model, (iii) the evolutionary model and (iv) the radical model.
(i) The naïve model
This model is the most widely used. The characteristic of this type of model is that of putting the lecture notes on the web. It provides no opportunity for interaction or feedback. The two major advantages of this model are, that it is relatively cheap to implement, in that is does not need a lot of sophisticated hardware and software resources. Also the amount of tutor time required is minimal. The model is less threatening to students, as no or little advanced technology skills are required.
(ii) The standard model
The standard model attempts to make use of the advantages of the technology in order to allow a significant degree of communication and interaction between students and tutors. It incorporates a subject home page which includes subject material such as unit outlines and assessment guide and session materials such as lecture notes, tutorials and reading materials. It also provides the provision of email lists and newsgroups to enable communication between students and with students and the subject coordinator.
When making use of this model the students usually expect to have online information which is error free and which is at the same time always up to date. Another disadvantage of this model is the increased amount of time required to establish, maintain and keep current information throughout the semester.
(iii) The evolutionary model
The evolutionary model allows for feedback from students, which is received on a weekly and anonymous basis, to dictate how the course should change and evolve from one semester to another (Svensson et al, 1999). This feedback exposes the weaknesses and strengths that the course might have.
Differences that exist between the evolutionary model and the standard model are lectures that are pre-recorded and are available in more than one format, for example, both on CD and on the web; animations are used to explain many of the concepts and actual normal lectures are given only in response to students’ requests for further explanation of particular topics. All assignments are submitted, marked and returned electronically and a feedback mechanism is provided for students to give constructive comments on how the subject is progressing.
(iv) The radical model
The radical model makes no use of the traditional lecture format whatsoever (Romm and Taylor, 2000). Instead students are formed into groups in order to learn by interacting amongst themselves by making use of the vast amount of existing web-based resources. In this type of model the academic staff members will provide guidance as and when required.
Roberts, T. S. & Jones, D. T. (2000). Four models of on-line teaching. Proceedings of the Technological Education and National Development Conference. Crossroads of the New Millennium. April 8-10, 2000, Abu Dhabia. United Arab Erimates.
Romm, C. T. and Taylor, W. (2000). Thinking creatively about on-line education. In M. Khosrowpour (Ed), Challenges of Information Technology Management in the 21st Century, 1167-1169. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, IRMA conference, Anchorage, USA.
Svensson, L., Andersson, R., Gadd, M. and Johnson, A. (1999). Course-Barometer: Compensating for the loss of informal feedback in distance education. In B. Collis & R. Oliver (Eds), Proceedings of EdMedia '99, 1612-1613, Seattle, Washington.
(i) The naïve model
This model is the most widely used. The characteristic of this type of model is that of putting the lecture notes on the web. It provides no opportunity for interaction or feedback. The two major advantages of this model are, that it is relatively cheap to implement, in that is does not need a lot of sophisticated hardware and software resources. Also the amount of tutor time required is minimal. The model is less threatening to students, as no or little advanced technology skills are required.
(ii) The standard model
The standard model attempts to make use of the advantages of the technology in order to allow a significant degree of communication and interaction between students and tutors. It incorporates a subject home page which includes subject material such as unit outlines and assessment guide and session materials such as lecture notes, tutorials and reading materials. It also provides the provision of email lists and newsgroups to enable communication between students and with students and the subject coordinator.
When making use of this model the students usually expect to have online information which is error free and which is at the same time always up to date. Another disadvantage of this model is the increased amount of time required to establish, maintain and keep current information throughout the semester.
(iii) The evolutionary model
The evolutionary model allows for feedback from students, which is received on a weekly and anonymous basis, to dictate how the course should change and evolve from one semester to another (Svensson et al, 1999). This feedback exposes the weaknesses and strengths that the course might have.
Differences that exist between the evolutionary model and the standard model are lectures that are pre-recorded and are available in more than one format, for example, both on CD and on the web; animations are used to explain many of the concepts and actual normal lectures are given only in response to students’ requests for further explanation of particular topics. All assignments are submitted, marked and returned electronically and a feedback mechanism is provided for students to give constructive comments on how the subject is progressing.
(iv) The radical model
The radical model makes no use of the traditional lecture format whatsoever (Romm and Taylor, 2000). Instead students are formed into groups in order to learn by interacting amongst themselves by making use of the vast amount of existing web-based resources. In this type of model the academic staff members will provide guidance as and when required.
Roberts, T. S. & Jones, D. T. (2000). Four models of on-line teaching. Proceedings of the Technological Education and National Development Conference. Crossroads of the New Millennium. April 8-10, 2000, Abu Dhabia. United Arab Erimates.
Romm, C. T. and Taylor, W. (2000). Thinking creatively about on-line education. In M. Khosrowpour (Ed), Challenges of Information Technology Management in the 21st Century, 1167-1169. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, IRMA conference, Anchorage, USA.
Svensson, L., Andersson, R., Gadd, M. and Johnson, A. (1999). Course-Barometer: Compensating for the loss of informal feedback in distance education. In B. Collis & R. Oliver (Eds), Proceedings of EdMedia '99, 1612-1613, Seattle, Washington.
Information overload or filter failure?
Information overload is something that I frequently think about. We are surrounded by information and so are our students. However, are the student’s assignments any better than those submitted by students 50 years ago and are our lectures any better than those of lecturers who preceded us? While some people believe that more choice is always better, more choice leads to more confusion and it makes it more difficult for individuals to process all the information and make an informed decision.
But is it really a question of information overload or filter failure? In one of the first posts, Gilbert mentioned that today's youngsters have developed an adapted neurological structure to meet the advancements in technology. Could it be that contemporary man is still primitive in terms of filtering information and this is why we feel a sense of information overload? In the clip below the speaker Clay Shirky argues that human beings will require “re-programming” rather than “updating” and social norms will have to change to meet the new dimensions brought about by new technology.
NOTE: The clip below is only suitable for the courageous few as it is a 23 minute information overload in itself. The speaker at the Web 2.0 Expo provides several examples to distinguish between information overload and filter failure. Some interesting points including ethical/legal issues in e-learning, the use of Facebook amongst students, etc. are brought up in his speech (always given that you can tolerate his filler words right through the presentation).
But is it really a question of information overload or filter failure? In one of the first posts, Gilbert mentioned that today's youngsters have developed an adapted neurological structure to meet the advancements in technology. Could it be that contemporary man is still primitive in terms of filtering information and this is why we feel a sense of information overload? In the clip below the speaker Clay Shirky argues that human beings will require “re-programming” rather than “updating” and social norms will have to change to meet the new dimensions brought about by new technology.
NOTE: The clip below is only suitable for the courageous few as it is a 23 minute information overload in itself. The speaker at the Web 2.0 Expo provides several examples to distinguish between information overload and filter failure. Some interesting points including ethical/legal issues in e-learning, the use of Facebook amongst students, etc. are brought up in his speech (always given that you can tolerate his filler words right through the presentation).
Sunday, June 13, 2010
E-learning generations - From e-learning 1.0 to 3.0
E-learning, is a emerging concept. E-learning generations (1.0 onwards) define new attitudes, tools and approaches from tutors and learners, as well as new technologies and new methodologies. If you bear through the initial (boring) part of the presentation and the unreadable slides (!), the speaker however moves on to give an explanation on the evolution of e-learning from version 1.0, on to 2.0 and further to 3.0.
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