Su- Distance Education Technologies
Two distance education technologies I have
chosen are Moodle and Blackboard Collaborate.
https://moodle.org/about/
I have chosen Moodle, a virtual learning
environment, because it has been used by many institutions for the benefits it
offers. Moodle is an open source course management system that allows educators
to have courses in online settings. Preferred by many institutions, the tools
like forums, wikis, and databases enable both the transmission of the course
content and collaboration among the learners (Learners can create their own
areas where they share their files. It offers other features like grading,
instant messaging, online calendar, news and announcement and online quiz,
which, in other words, is all you may need in an online course ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle). Benefits of this software are numerous. In
the video provided by UCL Central for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching,
Rosalind Duhs (Teaching and Learning Portal, n.d) lists being able to stop the
lecture and use the chat facilities within Moodle, and follow the follow-up
questions published what was on chat as ways to promote deeper understanding
compared to traditional learning environments. This technology is beneficial for blended
learning as well and I would integrate this technology to my language teaching
classes for pre and post tasks. Prior to the lessons, I would have my learners send
me questions related to the topic or them to answer a set of ones to elicit how
much they know on the topic to be discussed. As for post activities, forums
could be given for writing tasks after the reading texts and they can be asked
to react to their classmates ‘posts.
The second technology I will be
introducing is Blackboard Collaborate. Blackboard Collaborate is a web
conferencing system which allows everyone from students to employees to
participate in a lecture or seminar regardless of geography, and time. It’s a
30 day trial Students can watch the lectures of the experts in the field on
screen and interact with them, an opportunity that cannot be found in a
traditional classroom because of geography and high costs. Moreover, with this
technology enables them to listen to these recordings using the mobile devices.
“Features of the Blackboard Collaborate web conferencing system include two-way
audio, interactive whiteboard, sharing of PowerPoint slides, customizable
screen interface, electronic voting, session recording, break-out rooms
available for one-on-one time, multi-point video, and text chat” (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/teaching_tools/web-conferencing).
I would really like to integrate this opportunity for the training of English language
teachers. Once a month, a guest speaker can give a conference on a topic they
are interested in. Teachers can be encouraged to ask their questions to him or her.
Also, these recordings could also be used during on campus training sessions
for topic discussions.
References:
Duhl, R. (n.d.). Teaching and Learning Portal.
London’s Global University. Retrieved from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/teaching_tools/moodle
Hi Su,
ReplyDeleteI am interested in Blackboard Collaborate that you introduced in your post. I would use it to help my learners learn from experts around the world. For example, I can ask my learners to attend a seminar according to their topic of interest and then to write a reflection about it. I think they would enjoy learning about a topic they are interested in from an expert.
Thank you for suggesting this technology,
Izlem.
My company has been working with moddle for a couple of years. It is great for our both ELA and Social Studies courses with Middle School students. It is great for the educators and the students.
ReplyDeleteHi Su,
ReplyDeleteI think both technologies you have mentioned in your post can help me in my classes. Especially Blackboard Collaborative has attracted my interest. That learners can watch lectures of experts regardless of geography is a great opportunity. I think I can use this technology in my writing classes. I can assign them with a topic that they can find on Blackboard Collaborative, ask them to take notes from the lecture, and then in class ask them to write about the topic.
Thank you for your suggestions,
Seher