Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Session 5 Blog: E- Facilitation


Hello Cohorts

E- Facilitation is one of the common baselines of higher education that enables a lecturer to explore its potentials on how to facilitate courses. Assessment as being major part of efacilitation is required by every one of us because it becomes a significant determinant of what, when and how we learn things. Hence getting the right assessment is required by both the students as well as the teachers. As part of efacilitation team ILLICH chose the topic: Elements of successful online learning with a Focus on PICs. Sub- topic with major focus in session 4 was Continuous Assessment and Feedback.

Assessment and Feedback
The importance and benefits of student assessment for learning have been established in the previous sections. You are undoubtedly aware of its significance in our academic lives now. However, in order to achieve the required goal of classroom assessment, it should be ascertained that assessment is being done at frequent intervals on a regular basis. In other words, it should be an ongoing process. Classes or courses which hold one or two exams per year are not exploiting the potential of school assessment to the extreme. For students to have a more precise perspective and understanding of their flaws and strengths and take steps to improve it, frequent assessment is exceptionally crucial.

IMPORTANCE OF THE ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY
Conceptualizing the learning process to its basic elements, we can identify at last the following elements:
1. The educational material to be taught by the teacher in a classroom.
2. The teaching and learning activities that take place in a classroom.
3. The assessment activity to measure the student learning and,
4. The report of the score results given by the teachers to the students. This conception is well suitable for the traditional educative process.


Figure 1: ASSESSMENT IN THE E-LEARNING PROCESS

Types of Assessment


  1.      Formative assessment: this is an assessment that helps to give a convenient feedback and motivation to the student and do not have scores. Also brings convenient feedback to designers of materials.
  2.         Summative assessment: this is a scored assessment and gives a result to measure outcomes and success of the learner.
  3.          Norm assessment: use the achievements of a group to set the standards for specific grades and is used in most universities. Criterion assessment: establish the standard (criterion) and mark students against it.
  4.          There is another kind of assessment called alternative assessment. Here, the integration of the assessment activity with learning processes and real-life performance as opposed to display of “inert knowledge”. Know as authentic assessment it is very much based on the constructivist approach that enables students to demonstrate knowledge by working on authentic task, putting students under control of their own learning [1] and helping the students to develop the necessary skill for autonomous (and lifelong) learning.


Indeed, assessment is similar to a learning objective, and students should be aware of conducting it after completion of every lesson. It affects education in many spheres like grades, placements, curriculum, and school funding and instructional requirements as well.

Thank you.

Reference

  1. Barbosa. H and Garcia. F (2014). Importance of Online Assessment in the E-learning Process. Department of Computer Science, University of Salamanca Plaza de la Merced, s/n 37008, Salamanca, SPAIN.
  2. What Is The Importance Of Assessment In Teaching Learning Process? https://www.buyonlineclass.com/importance-of-assessment-in-teaching-learning-process/




Tuesday, 28 April 2020

Session 4 Blog: E- learning practice in higher education

Hello All

Session 4 focuses on two aspects of e learning practice in higher education. First, micro - teaching and its learning environment with a 5 minutes micro teaching and Secondly, identifying a higher education issue and discussing it under group topic as a case
 study.

 Micro- learning

Micro-learning is an extremely useful tool for any educator, and it brings with it numerous benefits to both the educator and the learner. Micro-learning technology can make learning ‘50% more efficient’ for half of the cost of traditional educational technology, for example. So what is micro-learning? As the ‘micro-‘ part of the name indicates, micro-learning is focused on smaller learning units that are delivered within a short time frame. Usually, each micro-learning unit will have a single objective (or ‘learning outcome’), and it is advisable to make this objective clear to the learner(s) prior to delivering the unit to facilitate their ability to reflect on and celebrate their educational achievements. Despite its ‘bite-size’ format, however, a micro-learning unit should ideally be integrated into your broader curriculum and syllabus. 

The concept of micro teaching is mainly based on the following points
  • Teaching in its real form but with a minimum concept
  • The exercise which is designed focuses mostly on the basic teaching skills with the help of feedback based on the knowledge and information of the student learning level.
  • The teaching is conducted for students who are from different backgrounds and their intellectual abilities.
  • Monitoring the micro-teaching exercises conducted in classrooms
  • Enabling the prospective teachers to learn effective teaching skills.
  • Helping the students to actively participate in teaching by providing a low-risk situation.
  • It also offers opportunities for retraining at regular time intervals
E- learning Case study

More than 1.5 billion students and youth across the planet are affected by school and university closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak.The Global Education Coalition launched by UNESCO seeks to facilitate inclusive learning opportunities for children and youth during this period of sudden and unprecedented educational disruption.Investment in remote learning should both mitigate the immediate disruption caused by COVID-19 and establish approaches to develop more open and flexible education systems for the future.
Case Study Title: “Substituting Field practical with Virtual Learning Experience opportunities during a Pandemic.”

This case study will focus on the current issue that is affecting the higher education sector worldwide, especially during Covid- 19 pandemic. The main issue highlighted will focus on how to change field practical experience of a full-time face-to-face course with different virtual learning platforms during a pandemic. 

Reference

HOW TO USE MICRO-LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION CLASSROOMS. 


COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Higher Education: Meeting the Needs of Your Campus Community During a Crisis by Dr. Sumit Nijhawan, March 13, 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.ruffalonl.com/covid-19-coronavirus-and-higher-education-meeting-the-needs-of-your-campus-community-during-a-crisis/
Impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on education. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_2019%E2%80%9320_coronavirus_pandemic_on_education

Micro Teaching: Principles, Procedures, Benefits & Limitations


Wednesday, 18 March 2020

Session 3 Blog: E- Learning Trends In Higher Education

Hello All


 This session consists of  two learning tasks e-learning trends and its influence on the future of higher education and E- Assessment. 

 Week 5

There were  four important parts discussed as part of e- learning in the discussion forum activity. Learning Analytics, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) & M- Learning, Virtual Realty (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR) and Maker Space. I will not touch individual concepts mentioned above as it was discussed briefly through the discussion forum but will be focusing on what is e- learning in higher education and its importance. 

A learning system based on formalized teaching but with the help of electronic resources is known as E-learning. While teaching can be based in or out of the classrooms, the use of computers and the Internet forms the major component of E-learning. E-learning can also be termed as a network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge, and the delivery of education is made to a large number of recipients at the same or different times.
E-learning has become as necessity in higher education institutions and is being deployed in educational establishments throughout the world. The rise of e-learning technology used by higher education institutions can be attributed to globalization. Teaching in the form of e ‑learning is a modern supplement, and sometimes even an alternative to traditional education. It allows learning at a very high level, available anywhere and at any time.  The use of a specially prepared original teaching material such as syllabus, lectures, interactive exercises, instructional videos, and many other multimedia contents that make distance learning, become effective and are also in line with expectations of students. 




Importance of E- Learning
E-learning is important for education because it can improve the quality of the learning experience, and extend the reach of every lecturer and tutor. 

  • It can help remove barriers to achievement, by providing new and creative ways of motivating and engaging pupils and learners of all abilities, enabling and inspiring everyone to attain their educational potential.
  • E-learning can support learning by offering differentiated learning, particularly for those who need support in literacy, numeracy and ICT. 
  • It offers a wide range of tools to enable teachers and learners to be innovative, creative and resourceful in all learning activities. 
  • Teachers and learners can easily customize digital learning resources to suit pace and level, appropriate to any learning style and ability.E-learning creates on-line communities of practice.
  •  The internet can bring learners, teachers, specialist communities, experts, practitioners and interest groups together to share ideas and good practice. 
  • It can provide an individualized learning experience for all learners, including those who are disadvantaged, disabled, exceptionally gifted, have special curriculum or learning needs or who are remote or away from their usual place of learning.
Week 6

E- Assessment


The entirety of the assessment process requires significant effort due to the existence of mass lectures, the need to assess the students more frequently and reduced resources. With the growing use of information and communication technologies in higher, teachers have become increasingly aware that technology‐supported educational systems transformed the way students were assessed, enabling the acquisition and development of new knowledge and skills. Assessment is a central element in higher education to determine students' skills and knowledge, but also to ensure that they achieve the desired learning outcomes. Assessment promotes student learning and still works as a way for teachers to assess student performance. 

Benefits of e-assessment 
There are many benefits that come with e-assessment, whether used for formative or summative purposes. In e-assessment many students can be assessed within a given time frame, especially if their answers are marked automatically. Other pedagogical benefits include immediate student and lecturer feedback; the ability to repeat and randomize ATs/tests; the consistency and fairness of computer-marked assessment; students’ ability to complete assessments anywhere and at any time (time saving); and opportunities for students to take responsibility for their own learning.It is less costly to develop e-assessment tasks; it is easy to implement since there is no need to hand out question papers and mark them afterwards; students with special needs or disabilities can adjust the font size and change colours; voice notes can be created for students to listen to, using their headphones; ATs are delivered securely, and marking is more reliable.

Further, marking rubric is one of the other very important concept of e- assessment which help's in justifying student grading during assessment. For this forum I used one of my teaching coarse PPA 511 and the assessment base was Essay Assignment. All the assignments were marked through Moodle and marking rubrics was attached as part of week 6 discussion.

Thank you. 





Reference
Dorota.G (2016). E- Learning in Higher Education. The Person and the challenges. Vol.6.(2).p. 35-43. Polland.

Babu.G.S & Sridevi. K (2018). IMPORTANCE OF E- LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A STUDY. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH CULTURE SOCIETY. India.


Rolim. C & Isaias. P .(2018). Examining the use of e‐assessment in higher education: teachers and students’ viewpoints. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjet.12669




Wednesday, 4 March 2020

ED 403 Session 2: Learning resources and technologies

Hello All

Learning resources and technologies


Tertiary education system have generally been quick to adopt new technologies, often even before their educational value has been proven. Throughout its history, higher education has experimented with technological advances as diverse as the blackboard and the personal computer. Some technologies have become permanent parts of the higher education enterprise. Others, such as the slide rule and the 16-millimeter movie projector, have been replaced as more sophisticated or more cost-effective technologies have emerged to take their place.Emerging technologies in education inspire countless conferences, workshops, white papers, and think pieces every year. They pledge to revolutionize the way students and teachers work and interact. At times, they aim to eliminate some elements of education altogether, including the need for physical proximity to the classroom, costly textbooks, or even the presence of a human teacher. Much like the promises made by the apps on our phones, these educational technologies try to make learning more efficient, engaging, relevant, and entertaining. Session 2 was divided into two very important concepts of learning resources and technologies: Learning technologies inform of web 2.0 tools and Open educational resources( OER's).




Learning Technologies (Web 2.0 tools)


Advances in information technology with emerging mode of abstraction is known as "Web 2.0" it has begun to change the paradigm of higher education. Web 2.0 can also be defined as the social use of the Web which allows people to collaborate , to get actively involved in creating content , to generate knowledge and to share information.Web 2.0 tools provide enormous opportunities for teaching and learning, yet their application in education is still underdeveloped. What is more, it is no longer possible for teachers to ignore such a technological advance, while they are expected to provide students with opportunities to take control of their learning. For this discussion I evaluated two very important Web 2.0 tools Flickr and Application and tools for Agriculture farm management calculations, for which I have outlined a instructional video link attached below.
Link to instructional video on Web 2.0 tool: https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYefc1xhwM

Open Educational Resources

OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. Higher education is facing a number of challenges: globalization, an aging society, growing competition between higher educational institutions both nationally and internationally, and rapid technological development. OER is itself one of these challenges, but may also be a sound strategy for individual institutions to meet them. The trend towards sharing software programmes (open source software) and research outcomes (open access publishing) is already so strong that it is generally thought of as a movement. It is now complemented by the trend towards sharing learning resources – the open educational resources movement. For this discussion 5 OER's were evaluated: Wikipedia, Research Gate, Internet Achieve: Audio Archive, Linkedin slideshare and You tube. You tube and Research Gate were further incorporated as major part of the course which I am teaching this semester. Each of the OER's mentioned above are free for users and is unique in a particular way to provide information for its users and equally contributes towards higher education learning.

Thank you.     

Reference
Lillejord S., Børte K., Nesje K. & Ruud E. (2018). Learning and teaching with technology in higher education – a systematic review. Oslo: Knowledge Centre for Education, www.kunnskapssenter.no

PDF) Using Web 2.0 Tools to Enhance Learning in Higher Education: A Case Study in Technological Education. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265282563_Using_Web_20_Tools_to_Enhance_Learning_in_Higher_Education_A_Case_Study_in_Technological_Education [accessed Mar 05 2020].

Mishra. S. (2015). Understanding Open Educational Resources. COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING. Canada.

Monday, 17 February 2020

ED 403 Session 1 : Technology enabled learning and future of learning in Higher Education

Hello Everyone


Technologies really play an important role in every individuals lives at higher education today. If comparing traditional with modern education system, vast difference and advancements is noticed. Computers and telecommunications are the principal technologies reshaping higher education. Due to advances in each of these domains, electronic mail, fax machines, the World Wide Web, CDROMs, and commercially developed simulations and courseware are altering the daily operations and expanding the missions of colleges and universities. Every student in the university has the privilege to explore beyond their subject knowledge through internet, computer and library facilities provided by the university in improving status of education delivered to students.  Though technological advancement is bringing improvements but their are many barriers to technology-based innovations that exist within colleges and universities. Academic traditions, such as the faculty-centered lecture, make many educators reluctant to adopt alternative instructional strategies using the computer or telecommunication devices. The cost of many technological applications also prohibits their easy adoption at many resource-limited institutions. Before technology became such a central part of institutional operations, many colleges paid for new or improved technologies from funds left over at the end of their annual budget cycle. Now that technology has become an essential and recurring investment, most schools must locate additional funds to meet their increasing needs for technology resources.
                                   
Video attached above highlights the importance of using technology in the classroom.

When it comes to technologies the first thing triggering the younger generation minds is social media. Social media itself has become an integral part of higher education learning in universities around the world.When it comes to social media and education, some parents and teachers view these platforms as distractions that negatively influence students. But in today’s increasingly digital world, social media plays a meaningful role in higher education every day.When used the right way, social media can enhance a student’s learning journey, also making it much easier for pupils and educators to connect. I would also like to share my experience on how I manage to stay connected with my course students through use of viber groups. For every batch I teach has its own viber group where students feel free to ask questions and are informed in advanced for change in timetables. As lecturers we see this often that students do not tend to visit Moodle and keep themselves updated with class related information's. So by making use of this important social media tools we will be able to gasp attention of course students especially if you are handling a larger batch of class.

References

Segaren. S (2019). The important role of social media in higher education. Retrieved from:https://www.studyinternational.com/news/the-important-role-of-social-media-in-higher-education/