Comments on: Top 20 E-Learning Blogs for 2009 + Some Reflections on 2009 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/ Michael Hanley's blog about e-learning, web-based elearning, technology in education, e-learning tools, learning 2.0 (blogs and podcasts), & continuous professional development. Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:09:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: del.icio.us Bookmarks vom 19. Dezember | KOMA medien http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1476 del.icio.us Bookmarks vom 19. Dezember | KOMA medien Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:35:52 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1476 [...] Top 20 E-Learning Blogs for 2009 | E-Learning Curve Blog [...] [...] Top 20 E-Learning Blogs for 2009 | E-Learning Curve Blog [...]

]]> By: Manish Malik http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1383 Manish Malik Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:51:12 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1383 The Cloud gives control to people on their documents/work etc, it makes them publishers/authors/broadcasters etc. A spin of sharing and collaborative working added to the mix and we have what I call as the Cloud Learning environment. Here the control is shared between the learner and the facilitator or the academics . This is new, as the old institutional VLE (or virtual learning environments, kept most of the control with the institutions or the academics) and the PLEs (personal learning environments) did not quite provide a cohesive platform to bring different people together form different walks of life uniformly. To read more about a CLE, see http://edublend.blogspot.com/2009/12/cloud-learning-environment-what-it-is.html An Example of that is my Exam revision site that taps into the students informal learning experience/practice. I blogged about it here http://edublend.blogspot.com/2009/12/examopedia-re-birth-on-google-sites.html And the resources is an Open access resource that can be accessed here: http://sites.google.com/a/port.ac.uk/examopedia/ The Cloud gives control to people on their documents/work etc, it makes them publishers/authors/broadcasters etc. A spin of sharing and collaborative working added to the mix and we have what I call as the Cloud Learning environment. Here the control is shared between the learner and the facilitator or the academics .
This is new, as the old institutional VLE (or virtual learning environments, kept most of the control with the institutions or the academics) and the PLEs (personal learning environments) did not quite provide a cohesive platform to bring different people together form different walks of life uniformly.
To read more about a CLE, see http://edublend.blogspot.com/2009/12/cloud-learning-environment-what-it-is.html

An Example of that is my Exam revision site that taps into the students informal learning experience/practice. I blogged about it here
http://edublend.blogspot.com/2009/12/examopedia-re-birth-on-google-sites.html
And the resources is an Open access resource that can be accessed here:
http://sites.google.com/a/port.ac.uk/examopedia/

]]> By: Michael Hanley http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1366 Michael Hanley Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:32:35 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1366 Hi Ken, My pleasure Ken: our dialogues over the last year have been great fun! I do think that there are genuine applications for cloud computing, but it's really just another name for internet services that have been in place for quite a while, in my view. For example, I wouldn't be able to work without XMarks, Delicious, Dropbox,and MobileMe (to name but a few). But for me, this time of year is not about technology, it's about reconnecting in the "real world," so may I wish you the blessings of the season, and a happy and prosperous New Year, from a very chilly (-6C) Ireland. Nollaig shona duit. <i>A peaceful Christmas to you and yours</i>. Michael -- Hi Ken,
My pleasure Ken: our dialogues over the last year have been great fun! I do think that there are genuine applications for cloud computing, but it’s really just another name for internet services that have been in place for quite a while, in my view. For example, I wouldn’t be able to work without XMarks, Delicious, Dropbox,and MobileMe (to name but a few).
But for me, this time of year is not about technology, it’s about reconnecting in the “real world,” so may I wish you the blessings of the season, and a happy and prosperous New Year, from a very chilly (-6C) Ireland.

Nollaig shona duit.
A peaceful Christmas to you and yours.

Michael
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]]> By: Ken Allan http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1362 Ken Allan Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:04:59 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1362 <b>Kia ora e Michael!</b> Thanks for the mention! I found that the merits of so-called cloud computing actually brought something useful to me this year, or at least, pointed to its use. My PC died in February. We (the family) thought we'd lost all our stuff (despite my ranting about the backups we had :-) but at a time when we didn't have a computer, we were still able to access all the family albums on Facebook and Flickr, and add to them, using another access point. This allayed the family's mounting concern while I busied about buying and setting up another PC. Compliments of the season to you, Michael. <b>Rangim?rie</b> <i>Peace in Harmony</i> Kia ora e Michael!

Thanks for the mention!

I found that the merits of so-called cloud computing actually brought something useful to me this year, or at least, pointed to its use.

My PC died in February. We (the family) thought we’d lost all our stuff (despite my ranting about the backups we had :-) but at a time when we didn’t have a computer, we were still able to access all the family albums on Facebook and Flickr, and add to them, using another access point. This allayed the family’s mounting concern while I busied about buying and setting up another PC.

Compliments of the season to you, Michael.

Rangim?rie
Peace in Harmony

]]> By: Pita Tuisawau http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1304 Pita Tuisawau Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:28:14 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1304 Thank you Michael for the very informative reply! You are correct. The way I see it, in talking about our learning preferences (styles) we were inadvertently introducing our Lecturer to Clark and Meyer's Multimedia Principle. I dont know, are these theories/principles mutually exclusive? And yes the "Great Wall of Text" powerpoints were leading to cognitive overload for the students. It is interesting that we did not ask the lecturer to use the concept maps in his powerpoints but that he did it on his own volition because he felt that he was able to teach "Evidence law" better with them. He went from "never bother to look at concept maps" to cannot teach without concept maps. I had better stop here. Thank you again for your excellent blog articles and comments. Thank you Michael for the very informative reply!

You are correct. The way I see it, in talking about our learning preferences (styles) we were inadvertently introducing our Lecturer to Clark and Meyer’s Multimedia Principle. I dont know, are these theories/principles mutually exclusive?

And yes the “Great Wall of Text” powerpoints were leading to cognitive overload for the students. It is interesting that we did not ask the lecturer to use the concept maps in his powerpoints but that he did it on his own volition because he felt that he was able to teach “Evidence law” better with them. He went from “never bother to look at concept maps” to cannot teach without concept maps.

I had better stop here. Thank you again for your excellent blog articles and comments.

]]> By: Michael Hanley http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1297 Michael Hanley Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:36:47 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1297 Hi Pita, Thanks for reading and for taking the time to submit such a detailed comment (and call me Michael). This is an interesting case study. Without going into <i>too</i> much detail here (as this is a topic that warrants a much deeper investigation) I would suggest that your team have done a great job in introducing the lecturer in question to what Clark and Mayer (2002) call the <a href="http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/adding-audio-to-adobe-captivate/2009/03/12/" rel="nofollow">Multimedia Principle</a>, one of their six "broadly applicable" guidelines to be used when undertaking instruction (whether WBT or ILT/F2F). In a nutshell, the Multimedia Principle states: Use words and graphics rather than words alone. It's pretty well-established (<i>Better Than Bullet Points: Creating Engaging e-Learning with PowerPoint</i<, Bozarth, J. 2009, and others) that if it was the case that your lecturer colleague was presenting to students using text-only PowerPoints (I like to call this "The Great Wall of Text") that his learners were not processing the information as effectively as if he used a text-and-visuals approach, leading to a degree of cognitive overload. Do you think this is possible? I'd love to hear your views on this Pita (and Virginia!). Best regards, Michael -- Hi Pita,
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to submit such a detailed comment (and call me Michael).
This is an interesting case study.
Without going into too much detail here (as this is a topic that warrants a much deeper investigation) I would suggest that your team have done a great job in introducing the lecturer in question to what Clark and Mayer (2002) call the Multimedia Principle, one of their six “broadly applicable” guidelines to be used when undertaking instruction (whether WBT or ILT/F2F). In a nutshell, the Multimedia Principle states: Use words and graphics rather than words alone. It’s pretty well-established (Better Than Bullet Points: Creating Engaging e-Learning with PowerPoint Do you think this is possible? I’d love to hear your views on this Pita (and Virginia!).
Best regards,
Michael
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]]> By: Pita Tuisawau http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1295 Pita Tuisawau Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:42:38 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1295 Greetings (can I call you Michael and Virginia?)! Thank you Michael for a great thought provoking blog and especially for the blog list and other useful links. Virginia thanks for asking the learning styles question for me. I am now looking forward Michael to your posting on this blog. I am an Instructional designer at our small law school here at the University of the South Pacific (Vanuatu campus). We had a workshop about two years ago when one of my collegues was presenting on the use of concept maps in our course materials. A law lecturer cut him short saying he saw no need for graphic representations of what is very clear to him in text. He said that he never even looks at concept maps but goes straight to the text. I tried to rescue my colleague and said something like...we are not designing these materials for ourselves but for students who may have different learning styles from us (and also mentioned that I personally do love and get a lot out of looking at (Good) concept maps before reading text). To cut a long story short, this law lecturer not only (albeit reluctantly)included Concept maps in his printed course materials but went on to use them (enthusiastically)in all his powerpoint presentations on Evidence law to his F2F students. His F2F and online students that I spoke to appreciated the concept maps in both his powerpoints and the print materials. In my humble opinion, the theory of learning styles seemed to help in this particular situation. Merry Christmas! Greetings (can I call you Michael and Virginia?)!

Thank you Michael for a great thought provoking blog and especially for the blog list and other useful links. Virginia thanks for asking the learning styles question for me. I am now looking forward Michael to your posting on this blog.

I am an Instructional designer at our small law school here at the University of the South Pacific (Vanuatu campus). We had a workshop about two years ago when one of my collegues was presenting on the use of concept maps in our course materials. A law lecturer cut him short saying he saw no need for graphic representations of what is very clear to him in text. He said that he never even looks at concept maps but goes straight to the text. I tried to rescue my colleague and said something like…we are not designing these materials for ourselves but for students who may have different learning styles from us (and also mentioned that I personally do love and get a lot out of looking at (Good) concept maps before reading text). To cut a long story short, this law lecturer not only (albeit reluctantly)included Concept maps in his printed course materials but went on to use them (enthusiastically)in all his powerpoint presentations on Evidence law to his F2F students. His F2F and online students that I spoke to appreciated the concept maps in both his powerpoints and the print materials. In my humble opinion, the theory of learning styles seemed to help in this particular situation.

Merry Christmas!

]]> By: Michael Hanley http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1277 Michael Hanley Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:49:53 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1277 Great - we're on the same page! I'm a big fan of ELT, and I regularly use it in my courseware. Many thanks for the Christmas Wishes, M -- Great – we’re on the same page! I’m a big fan of ELT, and I regularly use it in my courseware.
Many thanks for the Christmas Wishes,
M
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]]> By: virginia Yonkers http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1276 virginia Yonkers Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:44:21 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1276 I think I should warn you that my teaching training was based on Kolb's experiential learning theory. But I know what you are referring to (again, the misuse of a theory, taken out of context). Merry Christmas to you also. I think I should warn you that my teaching training was based on Kolb’s experiential learning theory. But I know what you are referring to (again, the misuse of a theory, taken out of context).

Merry Christmas to you also.

]]> By: Michael Hanley http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/comment-page-1/#comment-1275 Michael Hanley Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:59:47 +0000 http://michaelhanley.ie/elearningcurve/top-20-e-learning-blogs-for-2009/2009/12/14/#comment-1275 HI Virginia - thanks as always for your comment. Perusing <i>Connecting 2 the World</i> has been a rewarding and enlightening read in 2009, so I'm happy to feature it in my list. I know <i>exactly</i> what you mean about posts that "take" - or not, as the case may be: I've written some articles over the last year that I was sure would garner a reaction, and all I got was the digital equivalent of tumbleweed. Go figure. I think that the learning styles issue is a many-faceted and complex one, so if you don't mind I'll address it in a blog post proper. I do have my (empirical and evidence-based) reasons for my stance on visual-auditory-kinesthetic approaches to education. However, there are other pedagogies that unfortunately bear the same name but are different in methodology and efficacy. Kolb's and Honey & Mumford’s models spring to mind, as does Howard Gardiner's MI theory. As you can see, I have updated my post to clarify my intention of exposing the VAK snake oil. BTW, if I'm not talking to you again beforehand, Happy Christmas! (or local equivalent). Michael -- HI Virginia – thanks as always for your comment. Perusing Connecting 2 the World has been a rewarding and enlightening read in 2009, so I’m happy to feature it in my list. I know exactly what you mean about posts that “take” – or not, as the case may be: I’ve written some articles over the last year that I was sure would garner a reaction, and all I got was the digital equivalent of tumbleweed. Go figure.

I think that the learning styles issue is a many-faceted and complex one, so if you don’t mind I’ll address it in a blog post proper. I do have my (empirical and evidence-based) reasons for my stance on visual-auditory-kinesthetic approaches to education. However, there are other pedagogies that unfortunately bear the same name but are different in methodology and efficacy. Kolb’s and Honey & Mumford’s models spring to mind, as does Howard Gardiner’s MI theory.
As you can see, I have updated my post to clarify my intention of exposing the VAK snake oil.
BTW, if I’m not talking to you again beforehand, Happy Christmas! (or local equivalent).
Michael
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