Some thoughts on e-learning

I have been reading many articles and watching many clips related to e-learning over the past few weeks, so thought it might be a good idea just to articulate some of the questions going on in my head.

• When we use e-learning tools for a classroom course, are we trying to improve the delivery of the materials? Is this necessary?
• Is student interaction with the target knowledge the key aim?
• Should educators be trying to encourage more interaction with the target knowledge at each stage of the pedagogical scaffolding?
• Learners are individuals, therefore 'one size fits all' lessons should be avoided? Or can the learner adapt this lesson to fit their own needs?
• If game based learning provides motivation and enthusiasm for learning, is it useful for all learners?

Any thoughts on the above welcome.

How to make a sketch movie

For those of you who have asked how to make a sketch movie like the one in my Initial thoughts and feelings post, here it is:

I couldn't put my phone in this photo as I was using it to take the picture. :P

I put my phone on the tripod and used it to film me drawing on the whiteboard using the pens. I then used windows movie maker to:

1. Flip the movie around (it was filmed upside down)
2. Speed the movie up (by about 4 or 5 times)
3. Add a filter to make it look a little more cool.
4. Add the sound track 

It was actually that easy! It was just an idea I had a while ago after watching a sketch movie made by a professional artist and some super cool technology (graphics tablets and fancy animation software).

I hope you find this useful. If you need to know anything else, then just ask and please send me a link if you create a sketch movie. 

Pre-course

https://www.coursera.org/course/edc

EDCMOOC - My initial thoughts and feelings from Kyle Bettley on Vimeo.

Pre-course feelings:

Wow, they are super organised and sent an introductory email 2 months before the course start date! They have suggested participants make themselves familiar with various social media websites - Great start. Will it continue? 

Very excited to see how the course goes, particularly how social media and other tools are used to aid learning. I'm also interested to see what level of commitment both myself and others put into a free and non- accredited course. 

Wow, loads of people on Twitter already. Mainly posts just stating that they are excited about starting the course, but certainly very positive to see so much healthy participation before the course even starting. 

I like the idea of keeping a blog. Firstly I think it's a good way to stop ideas simply buzzing around in your head; it forces you to process them, logically order them (hopefully) and record them. Not only does this give me the opportunity to explore the questions further, but it also gives other the opportunity to contribute with the 'learning' process. Thoughts?

To do list:

Learn how to use twitter more effectively (any help welcome)

• learn what lists are and how to use them
• learn some of the other features which may be useful

Experiment a little with google+ to learn a bit more about it and how it works.