Personal Learning Environments (PLE's)

I've been reading what I can on e-learning and it's potential. It's a personal interest of mine because I wonder what will become of education? How will education be administerd and what will the look of universities will be in the future?

So I was reading a paper about Personal Learning Environments (PLE's) by Graham Attwell. Attwell is a strong proponent of PLE's and believes PLE's will play an important role in the future of e-learning.

Now Let me flip to Yong Zhao who I agree 100% with Yong Zhao. Zhao said that education is about the individual person. That education is about "preserving the spirit" of the individual. (I am also 100% in agreement with Zhao in that I do not believe in the No Child left Behind policy or in standardized testing, but that's a different discussion). And Ibelieve this is what Attwell was probably getting at as well, that a the PLE is the "e-tool" of the future that allows for individualism in the "e-world" of learning.

I don't know if I am so convinced. I have a couple of thoughts on this. One of the great if not the greatest factors of learning is motivation. All the articles I have been reading talk about the wonderous applications that technology has provided students and will continue to provide. Look at all the things students can do, etc, etc...And I agree, the new technologies are amazing. But I have yet to read any discussion of motivation. Everyone assumes students willtake up the torch and drive their own education. Will students be motivated to self direct their own learning? Some students certainly will. The majority I might argue probably would not. The proponent might say but look how engaed students have become in schools with this technology. Look at how interested they are in learning with the new technology. I might say yes, but wouyld they be so engaged were it not for the teacher? Would a student create a PLE on their own and would they maintain it?

I might also say what are students really learning through PLE's or other e-learning methods. Herein lies a question. What kind of learning are we going after? One might argue that everything is learning. True, we learn to look both ways before crossing the street, we learn street smarts everyday which helps us get through life. We also learn mindless bits of interesting information which is learning. But are the "e-practices" in place for students to learn what they should be learning? Are students learning efficiently through e-learning? People are still trying to stake their claims in the value of each new technology that comes out. When talking movies were developed that was going to be the next great learning tool, when television was developed that was going to be the next great learning tool, and on and on. I don't think there is yet one correct way or that anyone has developed a correct way of delivering e-learning or what the best e-learning tools are. I think teachers and students are becoming bombarded with all sorts of new things to try and students are being left with a mish mash of e-learning applications to work with. One not proven any better than the next. I have no doubt that e-learning is the future of education. But for now e-learning has an identify crisis. It's a bit schizophrenic. Don't get me wrong, I am a strong propoent of e-learning. I am excited at the oppotunities it presents. I challenge some of the claims being made that a specific thing is the wave of the future....

SCORM Defined & Explained

The more I read about the e-learning environment the more interesting it becomes because one thing takes me to another. I find I need to watch my time becasue I can get easily absorbed in reading about this topic. One interesting piece of information I discovered while researching this topic, though it's unrelated to the topic of this blog, was how much R & D the US goverenment does in the areas of e-learning and Instructional Design, particularly by the Department of Defense.

Okay, SCORM...SCORM is something probably no one has heard of unless you are in the software development side of e-learning or are looking to purchase an e-learning software. This is how I became aware of SCORM. For my collaborative project I was researching a software tool that would allow quizzes to be embedded in a Power Point presentation and recorded directly to a learning environment or some sort of area that would keep track of student scores. We finally located a piece of software that I was told was SCORM compliant to which I asked, what's that?

SCORM is what let's e-learning software be compatible with other e-learning systems. It allows for easy connectivity between e-learning environments. It permits information to be shared between e-learning systems. SCORM is like a design standard that application software designers follow when creating e-learning software.

SCORM stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. Software is design in modules or objects. It's these modules or "shared content objects" that gets shared or distributed across different systems. Reference Model means it's not an actual standard but SCORM has become a generally accepted practice by the e-learning development industry. It's similar to bar codes. There are many different bar code formats and no official standard for using one or another. Take for example the bar codes we see on items we purchase at the grocery store. The grocery industry has decided amongst themselves to use a particular format so that all grocery stores scanner will recognize their package bar codes. These type of "defacto" standards are found everywhere. Another example, there is no "official" size for a USB port but all removable drives fit in all computers. The computer industry just adopted that size. E-learning software is the same way. SCORM was developed by ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning), a Department of Defense funded research group. When looking to purchase an e-learning software make certain that the software is SCORM compliant otherwise it will be a stand alone package with no connectivity to other systems.

SCORM

The next topic in e-learning, SCORM. For next time....

e-Learning Definition

The more I read about e-learning the more I realize there is not a single definition. In fact, there are dozens of definitions for e-learning! In addition, there are several that disagree on what the "e" in e-learning stands for. Most of assume it stands for "electronic". However, one website I discovered had several definitions for the "e", none of which were elctronic. In their philosophy, "e" stood for "evolving" or "enhanced" or "extended" or still yet, "everywhere". (managesforum.com) Many include in their definition the use of the internet but the internet is not necessarily a requiremment for e-learning. E-Learning is not simply about technology, it's about a new social network to support learning.(cognotive designsolutions.com) Depending on what level of education someone is talking about the defnition of e-learning appears to change. One thing appears to be pretty clear though, no one appears to be advocating the e-learning is meant to replace traditional classroom instruction.

E-Learning

My blog topic for the first half of the semester is on "e-learning". So what is e-learning? E-Learning is probably the future of education. E-Learning is the use of techology devices such as computers or smart phones to deliver learning. E-Learning has the means to incorporate many different forms of media into instruction. E-Learning provides the student access to audio, video animation, interactive simulation and evaluation. More and more, training and education is being delivered via some form of technology.

As the demand grows to accommodate the life styles of students, particularly adult students, Universities are rushing to develop on-line curriculums. To improve the effectiveness and efficiency of traning E-Learning now accounts for over one third of all workforce learning. (Clark & Mayer). Unlike what some may think, e- learning is not just on-line instruction or distance learning instruction. It can be, but e-learning can be used in asychronous (self passsed) as well as sychronous learning (traditional in-class learning). In fact, e-learning is becoming a major component of traditional classroom instruction.

What was interesting to me was getting a clarification of "Delivery Method" and "Instructional Method". E-learning is but a delivery method, which is not to be confused with instructional method. The two are quite separate. In terms of actual learning, it has been proven that one delivery method has no particular advantage any other delivery method. What differentiates learning is the instructional method. So as we develop e-learning we must be cognizant of the instruction to be incorporated into the e-learning technology.

Hi, this is my first post on my new Blog. I'm excited to be taking this class as I can likely apply what I learn to my own classes almost immedately. This will definitely be very helpful as I develop an on-line course to be taught next summer.

The picture above was taken on a small Indonesain island not far from Singapore. For most of the summer I live and work in Singapore. Singapore is a very advanced society making it an ideal hub for travel to nearby countries.