Overall Review of last 5 weeks

This course was amazing to learn all different online educational tools. In general, I feel that I have more information about what kind of tools I can use for my future courses.

For the educators, those kinds of courses has to be mandatory for the sake of students. Most of the instructors do not have knowledge about using Vista, or the online course management system. So it would be great to teach instructors more about fabulous technological tools.

Teachertube.com is a great Web site for teachers. In general, the site is designed for educators and from my point of view it is a valuable resource to search for recent tools and learn how to use them. It is also a kind of social network for teachers, to spend time for educational purposes and share knowledge. One of the teachers, Colette Cassinelli, stated that “I love the idea of Teacher Tube. Educators need a safe and secure place where our students can take part in the social aspect of video sharing and engaging students with video responses”. That site can improve technological skills of teachers. There are many videos about how to use these tools, but also it is supportive to contact with other professionals through the online platform. As long as teachers start to get information from the Internet, they will also urge their students to use technological tools.

Moodle

The Moodle is originally an acronym for “Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment” and is defined on the Web site as “our community site (made with Moodle) where you’ll find information, free downloads and detailed community discussions about installing, using and extending Moodle”. Moodle can be defined as an online Course Management System (CMS), a Learning Management System (LMS) or an adjustable environment for learning communities. It is a free source e-learning software application that supports the design and development of online courses. This software package was designed using pedagogical principles, and social constructionist framework of education. Some typical features of the software are listed as: assignment submission, discussion forum, downloading files, grading, Moodle instant messages, online calendar, online news and announcement (College and course level), online quiz and wiki.

Moodle is open source and freely available software. The instructions about downloading the software are clearly defined on the site. Before installing the software, they direct you to another page to read the instructions and the first sentence is “Don’t Panic”. I had a couple of problems during the downloading process of the program. However, from “community” tab, I easily found the forum option to communicate with other users and read asked questions. Another thing related with this software was the long and scary downloading process. If you’re not familiar with software programs, you can feel that “I am in trouble”. It is not fancy and easy as the expensive user-friendly software.

Moodle seems as a very viable alternative to the paid software like Blackboard, Vista, etc. From my personal experience though, it can be a longer learning experience to get familiar with the system and younger students may struggle. On the other side, it is really useful to have open code software for online courses, for schools that cannot afford other paid software. It can be a good experience as a technological tool for schools that aim to start distance education. The schools do not have to pay for any software, and Moodle can be used for pilot studies.

Second Life

Another amazing tool for education! Second Life!

This was just for fun and I’d like to be familiar with the software before the class meeting. I downloaded and installed the software from the Web site. It is a pretty easy process. After downloading the software, I signed up and created my “avatar”.

I do have a Second Life Avatar now, and her name is Pekkky! The software has an option to change appearance of the avatar which is great!!! It is amazing to select what you want from various clothes. Another helpful feature of the tool is when your avatar is ready for a second life, you follow the instructions and get information about the software.

I’ve visited the KSU Island and visited some of the presentations about different topics. Here is my avatar’s picture from KSU Island.

Podcast

Podcast is the combination of the two words ‘iPod’ (the name of Apple Computer’s popular music player) and ‘broadcast’. It is generally narrated by instructors to help students describe about the content. The teacher can record the lectures for their students. The key point about the podcasts is the subscription mechanism; otherwise it is just an audio file. By subscribing podcasts, students will be able to download new episodes as they’re uploaded to the Internet. This is an easy and inexpensive tool for educators as well as students. PoducateMe Website is a great resource that gives guidelines, tools and techniques about creating a podcast for the instructors.

For this week’s assignment I created a podcast and this was my first experience. I found it really effective… Before starting to the podcast, it was useful to form the goals of the podcast and the order of the topics. It is really important to practice before the exact podcast. I spent many hours to create my Podcast. As an international student, the pronunciation is another issue… So, I think using podcast is not the best tool for me to use for educational purposes….

NetVibes

RSS (Really Simply Syndication) is a way that lets users more easily follow interesting sources of information and get automatic updates when websites, such as blogs, have changed. Users can subscribe to the sites that they follow regularly and get notified when new material is available. It is helpful for saving time and checking each site individually multiple times a day. NetVibes is a web site or blog aggregator that aggregates a specific type of information from multiple online sources. It is defined on the Website as “the collection of user submitted modules/widgets built using NetVibes Universal Widget API (UWA), feeds, podcasts, events, and tabs”.

NetVibes is Web-based and anyone can have access to the feeds from any computer by logging in. It is a “free web site that lets you personalize your web experience”.

“Take everything that matters to you while online – newspapers, blogs, weather, email, search, videos, photos, social networks, podcasts, widgets, games and funny applications – then bring them together in one single page, your personalized Dashboard”.

I really liked having a NetVibes account. I think it is amazing to sign up from one Website and easily reach to different sites and read about the updates.

QuestGarden

Vidoni and Maddux (2002) define WebQuest as “a teacher-constructed, Web-based lesson”. This model was developed in 1995 by Bernie Dodge at San Diego University. This technique is widely used for inquiry oriented online activities.

The WebQuest is designed with six major components including introduction, task, resources, process, evaluation and conclusion. The introduction section is for explaining the learning experience and it has a realistic scenario for students to act out or give background on a topic to be explored. Second, the task section presents a set of questions or a project for students. Next, the process section is a step-by-step description of how to carry out the task. In this section, links to sources that describe specific skills necessary to complete the project may be included. Then, the resource or credits section lists links to Internet resources that students may use to do the task. Explanations of the links are also included so that students know which sites they are going to visit on the Web. Fifth, the evaluation section outlines the rubrics of the given WebQuest project. Conclusion gives closure to the WebQuest. Teacher page might be added for more information about the instructor.

WebQuests narrow and direct students’ Web searches. Guiding students helps to prevent an overwhelming amount of information. Vidoni and Maddux (2002) state that “placing all of the necessary resources to complete the task within the WebQuest, educators simplify the Web-browsing process and direct students’ Internet experiences so that students have greatly improved chances of completing the tasks presented to them” (p.104). On the other hand, WebQuests endorse “a child-safe Internet environment”. The links that are necessary for the project are given on the WebQuest, and students do not lose time for searching many web resources.

Here is my WebQuest for Educational Statistics course. Enjoy!!!

Reference

Vidoni, K.L. & Maddux, C.D. (2002) WebQuests: Can They Be Used to Improve Critical Thinking Skills in Students? Computers in the Schools, 19(1/2), 101-117.

Let’s vote!

Webquest for Web Guests

Webquest is defined in a dictionary as:

• “an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all the information used by learners is drawn from the Web“
• “a research activity in which students read, analyze, and synthesize information using the World Wide Web. Webquests were invented by Bernie Dodge and Tom March at San Diego State University in 1995“.

It took me a couple of days to really understand what Webquest means. I tried a couple of Webquest sites, to design a new one. But, most of the existing ones are not flexible, not user-friendly. There are a few options to change the colors or design (p.s. I like to change all the colors and the design, that is why I need to learn a more advanced program for web design). Finally, I decided on QuestGarden. The problem is, you can register for a free 30-day trial, but then you have to buy the license.

My Webquest is designed for Graduate Students registered for the Statistics I for Educational Services. The aim of the Webquest is to teach how to analyze the relationships between two variables. I will be able to send the link of my Webquest after a couple of days. For a brief information, I listed the major 5 phases to design a WebQuest are listed as follows:

1. Goals and Context. Select a topic that can be formatted through the Webquest. Identify the learners and context.
2. Task and Assessment. Decide on the task that the learners will be responsible to do. Create a rubric for assessment.
3. Process. Add web resources and other information sources. Explanation of what they need to do.
4. Final Details. Introduction and conclusion
5. Polish. Work on the sizzle (for QuestGarden).

Wiki-Wiki Pedia

WIKIPEDIA, in other words “Quick Encyclopedia”, is the “sum of human knowledge”.

I assume that you have visited Wikipedia.org, before. I also did, maybe hundred times. But, I never tried to change anything on this Web site. To be honest, I didn’t know that, till reading Chapter 4, from Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. There were many good points stated in this chapter, and I found this reading really helpful. It totally changed my prejudgment about wiki.

What surprised me:

• The English version of Wikipedia houses over 3 million separate entries,
• The first Wiki was in 1995,
• Wiki means “quick” in Hawaiian,
• “There are vastly more editors who want to make Wikipedia right than those who want to make it wrong”,
• A professor tested Wikipedia by creating 13 errors on various posts, in a couple of hours the editors fixed the errors,
• Over 200 languages,
• Each day around 400,000 edits appear,
• In 2007, four out of five experts agreed the Wiki entries were correct, informative, comprehensive and a great resource for students.

Today one of the biggest dilemma with Wikipedia  or wikis is clearly defined in the book:

       “If anyone can edit anything on the site any time they want, how in the world can you trust what you read there”.

For me, people getting used to wiki. I am not sure about the time needed, but at the end we have to accept that people improve the Web. That is why we do have “Open Source Software” programs. Many volunteers work to improve these tools. If we can learn to edit, add, read, fix the knowledge from wiki, we do have a huge human resource.

“As we continue to move toward a world where everyone has access to ideas and where collaboration is the expectation rather than exception, wikis can go a long way toward teaching our students some very useful skills for their future” (Richardson, 2010, p.59).

That’s why I start to “edit” Wikipedia pages (prefer Turkish ones)…

Please, grant me the serenity to accept the pages I cannot edit, The courage to edit the pages I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.
—The Wiki Prayer (anonymous)

First week, first experiences…

It has been a couple of days that we have started to work on our assignments for the course. What do we have so far:

• Blog Page to share our experiences and thoughts,
• An RSS aggregator, Netvibes account to follow the class blogs,
• Twitter Account to enjoy,
• Second Life account to meet in a virtual class.

On Monday, we met in the Orientation session at Dimdim and that was my first synchronous experience ever. It wasn’t different from a regular classroom environment… I totally changed my mind about online courses.

p.s. If you click on the underlined words, you’ll be directed to the websites. I wrote extra HTML codes to create those links.