M@verick

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

Subscribe to Fortune Magazine at a 76% discount!

Class response on google posting ...

Thanks for your response!



Nayeem: I believe there isn’t anyone on the web who never heard of ‘Google.’
Starting with your name, please write your response in one or two sentence below…

Lies: I would be super-frustrated if there was no Google. It's the only search engine I use because the other ones are too flashy and complicated to look at. Yay for Google!

Kelsey: I also really appreciate Google for the many positive attributes it has. For example, where else can you conduct scholarly searches and find great images as well! I also explained to my Boss last week the concept of Google Doc.s and he was quite impressed. Hope all is going well and see you on line!

Lorraine: Google...unsurpassed potential as a varied instructional tool...blogger, google docs, (including spreadsheets and presentations), calendar features, Google labs, Google page creator, internet searching of: images, google scholar, google earth (maps), news, etc. I could go on.

Cam: I agree that Google is an essential component to surfing the internet. Whenever I need a quick answer to anything (usually sports trivia), I can quickly go onto Google and find the answer. I feel that there is no other search engine that rivals Google.

Discussion Board

Benefits of Discussion Board:

One of the great benefits of discussion board is people get all the necessary information related to a particular topic in one place. For example, if I am interested to go Hawaii for a trip and looking for relevant information related to the trip, I might be able to get all the necessary information from a discussion board.

I usually do it so often; when I am looking for something specific, in stead of wandering around on the net, I simply go to a discussion forum and read the relevant posting from different users. Few days ago, I was looking for a calling feature that will allow me to call free back home. I found a discussion forum that is dedicated to VoIP discussion only. It was amazing to see how actively people were sharing their knowledge and findings with other people. Finally, I learned many new things about VoIP calling features and found different softwares that allowed me to call back home either free or at a very low cost.

Moreover, I also found discussion board very useful to share ideas and knowledge. This works very well for online courses, where a teacher will work more like a facilitator and students will be teaching each other.

Discussion Board in class settings:

I have been talking about creating a discussion board from the beginning of the class. Discussion board is a part of online learning and could be used as an effective tool for learning. For example, the way we are using blogs to allow students to participate with each other, the same way a discussion board can be used. Forums are more effective sometimes, since there are moderators and administrators to control the board. Therefore, anything a user will write will be on hold for moderators’ approval for posting (the settings can be changed though). Moreover, unlike blog it does not have personal space for every user with sub domains; rather it is a board where discussions take place at the same time and anyone can participate in the discussions at anytime. So for a class setting, a topic can be raised in every week for discussion and students will be allowed to actively participate on it. This way a teacher can also determine the level of participation by students, and compare the quality of postings among students.

The role of discussion board in business-

It is very important to get appropriate feedback when we start a new business. Let me give you a particular example. Recently I have started a web business and developed a community portal. The first step was to buy some software to develop some web features on my website and to buy a domain with space. I was searching at google to find out which hosting company is giving the most attractive deal. However, I wasn’t able to find out the quality of hosting, since companies never sell themselves short. I was well aware of different marketing strategies, and was selective in picking up a hosting company. Finally I found a discussion board, where users have shared their experience with different hosting companies, talked about the good and bad sides, and recommended based on their experience. It really helped me to decide which hosting should be a good fit for my business.

However, we should be very careful while making a decision. If we make a decision based on what other people are saying, it could be misleading. Sometimes, you will find people from the company participating in the discussion board to influence you. They will be acting as users of that product and will give you false feedback. Other than that, I would say discussion board is an excellent place for business people to learn and share their knowledge. It also works as a point where you can meet new people, increase your networking and take the opportunity to flourish your business.

What if there wasn’t a search engine like google?

Post your response-

Have you guys ever thought about working on internet without google? I am not sure how many of you have the internet fever; I do.

I can’t think of spending a single day without being online. I have to use internet at least once a day and I click on google more than once within that time. Anyway, my intention for this posting is to talk about google search engine. Assuming you guys are also like me and spend an hour (on average) daily using the internet. As long as we are in school, we have to access online at least for study purpose. Think about it! How many times in a day we click on google? How many times you do it in a month? Have you ever counted how many times you have done it since its inception? It might be countless.

I am going to throw this question in google doc so that you can participate. I believe this is a very interesting question. It would have been really hard for me to do necessary research for my school projects and assignments if google wasn’t there. Just write one or two sentence in the google doc saying about what you think if there wasn’t any search engine called google (assuming there was no other search engine like google). This document has already been posted on google doc as a shared document. Once everyone finishes writing their response, I will post this on my blog. Stay tuned!

I am starting by writing one line below; your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Nayeem: I believe there isn’t anyone on the web who never heard of ‘Google.’

Starting with your name, please type one or two sentences below-

Online Assessment

After reading the article, Designing online assessment of student learning, written by Segrave. S. & Rice, M., I had now an in depth idea about how the online assessment work for students, how that can be developed, and why it is beneficial to students.

For online courses, particularly, blog, forum, google docs, and WebCT type of online gateway can be used as online assessment tools. I don’t support using just one of the above. All of the above tools have some sort of drawbacks, which can be overcome if multiple tools are used for online assessment. Google doc is an excellent way to share documents with group. I was playing with the links that Lorraine sent us for making free online tests (http://www.easytestmaker.com/default.aspx). I have created an IQ test and post that to google docs and decided to share it with the class.

Some of the drawback that I was talking about is as follows-

Blogging: You will find students posting artificial comments just for the sake of course work. Moreover, you don’t have a real time option in blog where you could post a document and that can be accessed and edited by different users at the same time (like google doc). For example, if teachers want to test their students, they cannot post questions that can be answered and submitted to teachers using blog, we need a different system.

WebCT: Although WebCT does not have such problem, testing students with exams is not the only way to assess. WebCT does not have the huge and open discussion facility like blogs and forums. Therefore, it is suitable to use for exam purpose only.

Forum: It is a little upgraded version of blog, I would say. As a member of the forum you can participate in any open discussion and post word documents, pictures, video as an attachment for other member to download. Moreover, embedding multimedia facility is also there. However, for test purposes or for shared documents, forum is still behind.

Google Doc: This is a recent creation of google, and I really like this tool. This is an excellent tool for online assessment. You can post your test paper and share it with a group. You also have an option to see who is editing what so that you can always be on the loop when you share a document through google doc.

Since assessment plays an important role in determining the quality of students’ learning, it is very important to have a solid, accurate, and fair assessment system. Therefore, I would suggest using all or some of the above tools to make the entire assessment process more productive and efficient.

Text Processing

After reading Text Processing Implication for Online Learning, written by Gunn and Beaudin, I realized the importance of maintaining the proper structure for writing. Both writers have greatly emphasized on maintaining coherence expression, link verbs, and transitions. According to them, coherence expression is one of the major elements for creative writing. It is very important to create an understanding and mental representation of the text. A writer should place him or herself in the audience position while writing a journal, article, or a report. Gun and Beaudin have very nicely defined two important sides of text processing: narrative and expository. When a writer is presenting a narrative text to the reader, even if it is not well structured, readers are able to get the points. On the other hand, expository text is full of technical jargon, unfamiliar words, new theory and assumptions. Therefore, expository writing is difficult and requires more structural attention (i.e. accurate grammar, topic clarity, use of coherence etc). Most of the website articles are considered as expository writing and needs strong coherence at macro level.

After reading this article I learned how to maintain a strong coherence in macro and micro level. I will try to apply this learning in my upcoming assignments and website development. The following elements are important and worthwhile to follow, according to the writers-

• Maintaining coherence in micro and macro level




• Using transitions and link verbs to maintain connections between paragraphs and sections




• Making sure to use appropriate headings as well as defined topic and concluding sentences and paragraphs




• Making sure that the sections of the writing is flowing logically and readers can follow it easily




• Consistency Consistency Consistency: It’s important to be consistent through out the entire website in terms of formatting, using appropriate headings, fonts, and colors.




• Including site map and visual representation will help readers follow the jargons used in the writing

Working the Web for Education

In response to Tom March’s Article
Working the Web for Education

I am impressed to read the article, Working the Web for Education: Theory and Practice on Integrating the Web for Learning by Tom March. It opens my mind and taught me the reasons for why people should build a website. The writer also discusses how the web can be used to enhance learning.

Especially I found the discussion about Webbed Educator very useful. I tried to follow the chart by placing myself as a web savvy and follow the chart hierarchy up to the bottom. His idea of promoting learning through multimedia scrapbook really fascinated me. I liked the idea of building knowledge through treasury hunt; solving problems through Web Quest, subject sampler were something new to me.

I will definitely try to implement these at the time building my website. I agree that web is an excellent resource for teaching and learning and it breaking the rule of traditional teaching and learning trend. I was looking through Tom March’s website and found that now people are thinking of using Podcast as a learning tool. What a great idea!

I would say, this is definitively going to rock! The new generation is now so attracted with these web resources that without any doubt, student will welcome podcast as a learning object. Contacting friends through forums, writing and sharing own thoughts through blogging, keep in tough with friends through IM has became part of life for this new generation. What could be more interesting to student other than being able to use these tools as learning objects? It would be great if teachers can implement a web based teaching environment for students, which will include a forum to allow student to involve in open discussion, web-interfaced chat software to allow students to chat with classmates instantly or to get in touch with instructor, a Blog section to help students post their assignment, learning experience and share ideas.

I am eagerly waiting to see its implementation soon. I believe it is not far away…

Nayeem

Embed YouTube Video into PowerPoint 2007

If you are using office 2007, you can follow this video. It will teach you how to embed a youtube video into your powerpoint presentation. Very cool!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Here is an awesome link that talks about the good and bad side of PowerPoint presentations. It teaches you some tips and tricks of developing an effective PowerPoint. I thought it would be helpful for everyone, since we have an upcoming assignment on PowerPoint...

Good Bad Ugly

Hope it helps all.

Module 2: Journal by Song and Hill

Song and Hill in their journal, “A Conceptual Model for Understanding Self-Directed Learning in Online Environments,” very nicely discussed about learners’ self-directed attributes for online studies and linked it with a new topic called- Self Directed Learning. Therefore, the main focus of this journal is to understanding self directed learning in online educational context.

According to Song and Hill, different scholars have presented different perspectives on SDL. For example, some scholars consider self direction as a personal attribute; some of them think it as a process of organizing the instruction. Candy is one of the scholars who think self direction as a personal attribute and introduced a four-dimensional model-personal autonomy, self-management, learner control, and autodidaxy.

Garrison is another scholar that Song and Hill talked about, who also believe SDL as a personal attribute as well as a learning process. Garrison talked about three dimensions—self-management, self-monitoring, and motivation—which interacts with each other in the SDL model. He also tried to explain that self management and learner control do not mean isolation or independent study; rather, collaborating with other people within the context. For instance, EDU4766-Web Based Learning is very much like that where interacts with each other and share own thoughts and ideas.

In terms of conceptual model of self-directed learning for online environment, Song and Hill emphasized on the importance of SDL in distance education and a high level of self-direction for learners to succeed in online learning environment. Three things are important for ‘SDL personal attributes in an online context’: resources, strategies and motivation. Online learning resource is huge and it is very important for learners to have appropriate control over it. Therefore, learners need to actively explore various learning resources, develop strategies to effectively use those resources, and overcome challenges that are associated with online learning. Some of the unique challenges in online education include not being able to get close to the teacher, which is possible in a face-to-face environment. In traditional class settings, an instructor is able to judge the level of understanding of the entire class, which is not possible for an online course. Technology is off course another drawback, which sometimes can never be overcome (such as, troubled internet connection, not being able to use computer from a remote location). Moreover, since the course is taught remotely, sometimes delay in response from instructors would affect the learners in the learning process. Research shows that instructors spend more time in teaching online course than a face-to-face class. The heavy workload sometimes makes it impossible for the instructor to monitor each student’s activities and respond promptly to each one of them.

Finally, although there are drawbacks related to planning, monitoring, and evaluating online learning, flexibility has still been the greatest support for online learning. Moreover, students learn more and spend more time on reading peers’ posting and try to explore a topic more closely than a traditional class, which is an add-on to their knowledge. I would say taking online course is worthwhile and allows student to learn greater self motivation and self control.

Self Directed Learning (SDL)

I was trying to understand this SDL concept from the scratch and thought should share my findings with all of you. The following discussion would help every one to understand the basic of Self Directed Learning before starting any discussion and throwing random comments about self directed learning. In my next posting I will move to the actual discussion of Self Directed Learning in Online Environments by Song and Hill.

Hiemstra, R (1994) wrote in their book, The International Encyclopedia of Education, about self directed learning. They defined it as a form of study in which individuals have primary responsibility for planning, implementing, and even evaluating the effort. According to them people who are doing PHD or higher education based on research are highly self directed. To me, they have defined the self directed learning perfectly and covered every aspects of it. The original definition is as follows:

“Several things are known about self-directed learning: (a) individual learners can become empowered to take increasingly more responsibility for various decisions associated with the learning endeavor; (b) self-direction is best viewed as a continuum or characteristic that exists to some degree in every person and learning situation; (c) self-direction does not necessarily mean all learning will take place in isolation from others; (d) self-directed learners appear able to transfer learning, in terms of both knowledge and study skill, from one situation to another; (e) self-directed study can involve various activities and resources, such as self-guided reading, participation in study groups, internships, electronic dialogues, and reflective writing activities; (f) effective roles for teachers in self-directed learning are possible, such as dialogue with learners, securing resources, evaluating outcomes, and promoting critical thinking; (g) some educational institutions are finding ways to support self-directed study through open-learning programs, individualized study options, non-traditional course offerings, and other innovative programs.”

To many people, self-directed learning means learning that take place in isolation. However, it is not true. If we consider Hiemstra’s definition of Self-Directed Learning, self-directed learning not always mean an isolation type of learning; it could be learning in an online environment where students are more independent to explore and come up with their own findings but not necessarily work without any direction. There must be instructors who will provide direction for the entire learning process. But we can say that in a self-directed learning environment, such as online education, high level research and independent study students need to be empowered and inspired toward a certain thing by themselves. They need to be able to take more responsibility for various decisions and an instructor will work just as a facilitator or a mentor. Below is an image of a Self-directed learner, which gives you a fair bit of idea about self-directed learner. This diagram is introduced by Hope Hartmans, a professor of Education Psychology.

Source: http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~hhartman/

Now that we have an idea about what self directed learning is all about, I want you to turn your attention towards self-directed learning in online education. As I have mentioned earlier, most of the online education can be categorized as Self-directed Learning. Students taking online courses must consider being self-directed. This is one of the big challenges for students, since they are not in a face-to-face class where they have an easy access to instructors to ask direct questions. Most of the time students are taking online courses under distance program and participating away from the actual campus location. Therefore, it is very important to be able to take more responsibilities, being self-motivated and being highly inspired to carry on the learning process.

Here is a nice link to learn about the techniques of how you can become more self-directed. I personally found it very informative and worthwhile to study. Please help yourselves in learning different techniques of becoming a Self Directed Learner from the following website. Here is the link-

http://www.selfdirectedlearning.com/becomingSDL.html

Online learning: a classroom observation

This video shows how online learning could benefit you!

Comcast Blogging and Education interview

English Professor talks about blog as a useful tool for online educaiton. Should watch!!!

Blog Can Be Used to Enhance Online Learning

Blog makes the study enjoyable for students. It can be used as an open discussion tool for students. Like traditional classroom study, blog can be used to exchange lecture notes, share thoughts and opinions, argument and group discussions. This is often more enjoyable and flexible for students than a face-to-face class. Internet and computer are so common these days that it should not be tough for anyone to get involve in an online discussion through Web Logs.

Blog is also an excellent interface to publish journal and article related to the study topic. It is much easier to get involved in group discussions through Web Logs (Blog) than through a traditional face-to-face class. User can post their audio/ video links, share an interesting journal or article or any other findings over the internet very easily through Web Log.

Users can learn about creating and maintaining their own websites, which is tough if someone tries to develop a website from the scratch. Blog has its own URL address, which works like a regular domain. Finally, I would say that blogging websites like blogger.com are becoming more efficient by allowing users to modify pretty much everything. Therefore, blog can be used as an online classroom where instructor will be able to post his or her notes, explain a topic if needed and students will be able to participate in group discussions, debate, presentations and even posting assignments as attachment.

Blogging- A new experience

“Unbeknownst perhaps to many students, teachers, and even librarians, “blog” was the word of the year in 2004 according to dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.”
- Wesley A. Fryer


I was amazed when I read it. Personally, I was never so interested in blogging. However, I was completely aware of what blogging is and what it does. Anyway, for the sake of this course I have the opportunity now to get very close into this online blogging. After reading some articles, journals, comments from different bloggers, and monitoring some blogging activities I found that it is actually a pretty useful tool for sharing knowledge, thoughts, memories, happy moments and personal life stories. However, I did not find it much useful for writing journals and articles. It is more of an online version of your personal diary.

Indeed, blog is a very useful tool for online learning if it is solely kept for its actual purpose (education). I always support online education through forum and blogs, since it is easier to communicate with group members and class mates. Moreover, it is better for foreign students and/or students whose native language is other than English. One thing I must say, that is online study through blog will open the door for every one to frankly discuss an issue over the internet, which might not be possible in a face-to-face class. Through out my university career, I found so many people who are shy to speak out. Blogging will lessen this barrier for everyone as no one can see anyone’s face. Sometimes, it is difficult for international students to participate in the class because of poor English skills. They decide to keep quiet thinking that they might say something stupid.

Finally, bloging is an excellent interface for the new generations, which makes the learning process more interesting and enjoyable. I would love to see its implementation in this course.

Nayeem is glad that he is taking WBL in his final semester

Sweet! I cant beleive this is my last semester. How time does fly?

This Fall 07 would be hopefully my last semester and I am glad that I am taking Web Based Learning. At the time of taking this course I had no idea what I am going to learn. I was trying to explore some online courses from diffrent faculties just to see how it works.

It is fantastic that the course itself has blogging. Now I found a new excuse to hang out on the net :-) which I usually do to pass my time. I like it! I usually use facebook to communicate with my frnz; however, dont really find time to keep a blog, which is called personal wall in facebook. I have rarely posted something on my wall. I also never tried any blogspot before.

Anyway, blogger.com seems to be more advanced and specialized in blogging. I will keep updating my profiles. Please drop by to my blog site to find out new and interesting thought.

It is worthwhile to mention that for the next four months I will be using this blog to post my course related mterials, share my thoughts and ideas with my fellow classmates. I will be posting all my research and findings about this new Web Based Learning course every week. Till then, Ciao.....


Nayeem