A Fan of Classroom Journaling

This is the first class that I have ever had that requires journaling as part of the class.  I must say that now that I have participating in classroom journaling, I am a fan.  What a great way to take the education outside of the classroom and to promote critical thinking.  And it is a lot more fun than the traditional homework assignments. 

If I ever teach a subject I think I will use journaling and online blogging for the class.  To me it is a great evaluation tool that can assess all kinds of important information at every stage of the learning process.

Take a Bite of Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi is a $25 computer that was developed to give kids everywhere an affordable way to learn programming.  The Pi computer is the size of a credit card and is a fully functioning computer that comes pre-loaded with free software.  One of the free programs is called Scratch which teaches children the basics of computer programming.

I don't think the developers of this project really understand how this is going to impact the world.  Their small vision of it being used for computer programming is nothing compared to what the world will use it as when it starts to spread.  Imagine an affordable PC ($25) that has the capability to run any computer programmers.  You could stored encylopedias, educational software like Khan Academy and basically any free knowledge based out there and help put knowledge and information into the hands of adults and children alike across the world. 

I believe that the Internet was one revolution to education and knowledge sharing, now this ultra cheap PC will be the next revolution.  Because it will make the benefits of computing for affordable and that in turn will increase accessbility.

Online Learning in Higher Education: Part III

Another way web-based learning can occur as a supplement to classroom learning is with dropbox or file sharing.  Students submit all of this great knowledge and learning to a teacher when they turn a paper in but none of the students get to see each others papers.  Imagine how much we could learn from one another.  To me, this is one of the biggest wastes of knowledge that occurs.  With online file sharing the students can post their papers for the whole class to read, that way students can learn from each other. 

Online Learning in Higher Education: Part II

Another example where web-based learning can supplement classroom teaching is with follow-up assignments.  If you learn about a topic like John Dewey in class, then there are all kinds of online methods that can be used to enhance the learner's understanding of a topic and to promote interest and critical thinking.  An example is SymbalooEDU.com.  It's an online, personal learning environment where a student can house all of the online materials they find on a certain topic.  In the Dewey example, one student may have 5 links to related material, a link to the Dewey School, 5 videos related to Dewey and a photo of Dewey.  And all of these materials would be in one place for the student.  The teacher could also audit this site to see what the student collected.

Online Learning in Higher Education: Part I

From my experience to date, it appears that web-based learning is best used a tool to supplement class-room learning.  There are exceptions where 100% web-based learning seems to be effective and that is with compliance-related training materials.  For example, workers may have to attend an Internet security training session held by their company that talks about not sharing password, asking suspicious people for ID and email etiquette.  Many students can learn this material by taking a short, online module and then testing to confirm understanding.

One example where web-based learning can supplement the classroom are using blogs.  Blogs are journals.  They are journals that allow for text, links, pictures and videos.  They are easy to write and easy to read.  Teachers can view them at any time.  These benefits make blog journaling so much more convenient and powerful for both the student and the teacher.

Google Glasses: Seeing the Future

Oh augmented reality, how soon will you arrive in full force?  Virtual reality used to be the big thing in the late 90s, now it has changed to augmented reality.  Overlaying our reality with digital graphics.  The possiblities in education are pretty cool, although a lot of it is early in the 'hype curve' currently.  Imagine learning how to use a new machine as a manufactor.  You put on the Google glasses, walk up the machine and as you look at different parts of the machine a digital overlay gives you helpful information on the names of the parts, how to use them and what order to use them in.  Safety warning may appear if a switch is on or if the machine is not set up correctly.  Productivity statistics could appear letting you know who productive you are being compare to your coworkers, which may influence your bonus.  Your trainer may be able to see what you are seeing and guide you remotely or give you visual prompts.  Oh technology, when will you slow down?  Hopefully never.

The New Guy

We have a new guy at work and I have been using the opportunity to see how learning and orientation really occur.  I do not believe that new employees learn new jobs through their corporate training.  I believe that informal learning is far more powerful than formal learning.

So far, it seems like he has learned the most through sitting down and talking to everyone.  He has also picked up a lot by going through the file folders on the network.