learning beyond walls - elearning ideas and possibilities for youth

Learning Beyond Walls – eLearning Ideas and Possibilities for Youth

By:

Karim Wallani

Presentation for:

U-TECH: Technology Ideas and Possibilities for Empowering 21st Century Youth

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them" – Albert Einstein

RoadmapWhat is

eLearning

Quick look at FOSS

Emerging Trends in Education

(related to eLearning)

eLearning from the

IT Perspective

What do you know about eLearning?

When talking about eLearning, we often focus on technology…

eLearning…But look at the word ‘eLearning’, and notice the lowercase ‘e’ and the uppercase ‘L’. This is done on purpose: Learning takes priority over ‘e’.

(Textbook) Definition of eLearning

• The use of information and communications technology (ICT) for learning, teaching and learner support services

• Encompasses the use of a variety of tools and pedagogical strategies in a range of educational settings

(Laurillard, 2006)

(Simplified) Definition of eLearning

• All learning, all the time!

Quick Look at Free and Open Source Software

Free and Open Source Software• Proprietary Software = Software owned by an individual or

company. The licensee is given the right to run the software.• FOSS = Software that gives users freedom.

Freedom to… Proprietary Software FOSS

Run

Copy

Distribute

Study

Change

Improve

Free and Open Source Software

• FOSS does NOT necessarily mean free in terms of cost, BUT it is usually free in terms of cost

• Fees are usually charged for distribution on CDs/DVDs, USB drives, etc. or for services of installing or maintaining free software

Popular FOSS SoftwareType Proprietary Software FOSS Alternative

Operating System Microsoft Windows, Mac OS Linux (CentOS, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc.)

Virtualization Software VMWare Workstation Oracle VirtualBox

Office Suite Microsoft Office OpenOffice

Web Browser Internet Explorer Mozilla FirefoxGraphics Application Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint

Shop ProGIMP

Email Client Microsoft Outlook Mozilla Thunderbird

Desktop Publishing QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher

Scribus

File Archiving WinZip, WinRAR 7-Zip

Video Editing Adobe Premier VirtualDub

Screen-Capturing Camtasia CamStudio

Web Programming Adobe Dreamweaver Aptana Studio

And much more… as we shall see! Visit sourceforge.net for more FOSS.

Demo

• Ubuntu Linux• Mozilla Firefox• OpenOffice.org Writer• OpenOffice.org Impress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEHbwCMiOfo

Emerging Trends in Education

Emerging Trends in Education

Collaborative Learning

Distance Education

Virtual Classrooms

Emerging Trends in Education

Mobile Learning Game-Based Learning

Emerging Trends – Collaborative Learning

• A situation in which two or more people learn or attempt to learn something together

• Unlike individual learning, people engaged in collaborative learning capitalize on one another’s resources and skills

• These include both face-to-face conversations and computer-aided discussions (social networking sites, online forums and chat rooms, web conferencing tools, etc.)

www.facebook.com

www.skype.com

www.mediawiki.org

www.wikispaces.com

Emerging Trends – Distance Education (a.k.a. Distance Learning)

• Focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom

• Source of information and learners are separated by time or space (or both)

www.moodle.org

www.khanacademy.org

www.ocw.mit.edu

Over 2,100 courses available online.

Some of them containing complete video lectures.

Emerging Trends – Virtual Classrooms

• An online classroom in which the teacher and student are separated by time or space, or both

• The teacher provides course content through course management applications (e.g. Moodle), multimedia resources, the Internet, and/or Web conferencing

Emerging Trends – Virtual Classrooms

• Students receive the content and communicate with the teacher via the same technologies

• Can be synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous (non-real-time)

www.bigbluebutton.org

www.secondlife.com

Emerging Trends – Mobile Learning

• Any sort of learning that happens when the learner is not at a fixed, predetermined location, or learning that happens when the learner takes advantage of mobile technologies (e.g. handheld computers, MP3 players, notebooks and mobile phones)

http://exelearning.org/wiki

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Emerging Trends – Game-Based Learning

• A game, which is designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment, that deals with applications that have defined learning outcomes

www.thesims.com

The Sims 2: Open for Business

DNA - The Double Helix (www.nobelprize.org/educational)

eLearning from the IT Perspective

eLearning from the IT Perspective

• Responsibilities:– Design/Develop educational software including

Web and mobile applications– Create/Maintain appropriate infrastructure

(hardware and networks) for eLearning– Train users on the use of eLearning software and

hardware and provide support– Interact with academics and administrators to find

out requirements and suggest solutions

Thanks!