I was quite excited to give Second Life a try after I watched the introductory video on the educational uses of Second Life. I must say though that when I first showed up I did find it cool (flying was fun) but then was quite disappointed. I don’t know if I just had bad luck […]
Continue reading Jenny’s avatar experience Posted in: Week 12:
Education is breaking free of the confines of the LMS (Learning Management System). Abundant online (mostly free!) tools and services allow both students and teachers to take advantage of broader resources and potentials within self-managed Open Learning Environments (OLEs). The inherent flexibility and autonomy encourages learners and educators to ‘own’ the learning experience in authentic, […]
Continue reading Open Learning Environments Posted in: Emerging Markets Poll
I think open learning environments are important because they gives both learners and educators greater access to valuable resources.
I began using Edmodo two years ago (after trying Twiducate). I was cautioned though by our IT services team to check into where the information was being stored. Since then I make sure that we all use Avatar names and images (not our own) and all work and references use these names to avoid having student data on servers outside of Canada. Is this enough?
As we continue to lament the fact that education has not leveraged the current technology examples such as this shows that in some areas at least there is some evolution taking place. What is even more fascinating for me is the trend towards constructivism with empowering of students to determine their learning. I believe that we are living in the middle of a storm of change and when it is over education will never be the same again.
I don’t know if the ‘storm’ will ever be ‘over’. The swirling mix of new technologies and media are almost dizzying. I’m all for Open learning, simply for the fact of what it stands for. Breaking free of the older paradigms, creating a more empowered, connected, and accountable generation of learners.
FREEDOM! Our work environment as part of the government is so restrictive and wait times to have any projects completed through the proper channels are so long that we are left wondering what open learning environment could suit our needs.
Open learning environment presents many possibilities for collaborative learning communities and opportunities that might be more meaningful, engaging and responsive to the teaching/learning experience. I am more excited about the possibilities than the challenges!
Open Learning Environments can open doors that would otherwise not be possible. Coming at the topic from the perspective of a media/film educator, I believe virtual worlds, such as Second Life, can provide students the opportunity to learn all aspects of film production, virtually and online. Without going into too much detail, a process called, “Machinima” essentially allows you to capture anything that happens in a virtual world. Therefore, if you can make films virtually and online, film production education could be revolutionized by being taught online.
Open learning can allow for all type of learners to learn in a manner that is best suited to them. Traditional means of learning have been very rigid and this has resulted in many students feeling disengaged from their learning. Open learning allows for students to be active participants in their learning. They are linked to their learning because they are in the drivers seat. open learning opens doors for all learners.
I think Open Learning Environments are an obvious learning environment moving forward. I think it is important to create classrooms that mirror the way students learn and interact outside of learning objectives and provincial learning outcomes. This is becoming apparent with TED Ed. and Khan Academy.
OLE’s provide options for countries with fewer educational resources. Instead of spending a fortune on an LMS, they can use ‘WordPress’ and an array of other OLE’s. Granted, there is the problem of privacy, but some solutions were mentioned above.
The above was the first of three of my Personal Opportunity Polls.
OLE’s allow almost anyone to engage in lifelong learning in almost any subject. The wealth of resources out there allow for multiple points of entry and can cater to a range of learning styles. As such, this is a very worthwhile endeavour!
I believe Open Learning Environments are a wonderful way for educators to take advantage of what’s already out there and build on it. At this point in time I only see the benefits of learning more about different environments and how to use them in teaching / learning. Especially with budget always being on the forefront of concerns for both public and private educators one must start with what already has a foundation and build on that.
This is interesting topic, while on initial thought I was a bit against using a public blog for 522 for mainly reasons of privacy, control and ability to provide a safe and comfortable environment for students. However after just a couple of days of 522 I found myself challenging this initial opinion to see what benefits it may offer and it they outweigh what I saw as disadvantages.
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
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Eva Ziemsen 11:15 pm on November 22, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Jenny,
You make a great point – there IS an educational venture opportunity here. Since SL discontinued the teen SL version, I think many of us educators feel it is too risky to allow students into SL unless there is a way to limit them in certain areas. At this point, you cannot use SL with students under 18.
As for your Internet conncetion, this is very true. You cannot use SL unless you have a very fast connection. I found it much better when plugging into the Ethernet (instead of using wifi) at home. You might want to try that.
As the sloodle video shows, there are definitely ways to structure a curriculum activity and allow students to interact wtih it in SL.
I relate to your experience of wondering around and feeling a bit…lonely, actually. As I mentioned to someone else, SL and education is ideally suited to getting together with other students in a class. While we wished we could have arranged it, we knew it would present technical difficulties.
As for whether it is realisitc in a school system, I think I will be finding out in the next few years. My intention is to develop courses that are held in SL to teach filmmaking. As the videos tell us, many schools are already using SL. What did you think of the Spanish learning youtube video?
Jenny Brown 3:12 pm on November 23, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Eva,
I thought the Spanish learning video was very fascinating, just like the introductory video and the Sloodle video. I guess the videos I watched didn’t match my experience as I didn’t have the knowledge base to find the cool, free, educational areas and my computer and connection are so slow that it is very frustrating.
That is is an excellent initiative to try to use SL to teach film making. I hope it goes well as I think with an invested effort by a teacher and support from the school for the right technology it could be a great tool (I think of students connecting with each other online where at the school they may be in different groups and not connect). As an Educational Venture Analyst – I just don’t see it being viable for most schools.