What is learning? When I think of learning the first thing to come to mind is education. The majority of things i know is through school and university, although learning does not only occur through formal institutions, but looking at the broader perspective everyday learning occurs through seeing and watching others.
Learning i suppose is the transfere of knowledge through either a book or a person. Learning can occur through different context, and generally people are not aware that they are learning. I personally learn best through practical means, although some people are the opposite and learn through text books and reading.
What is a Learner Management System:
Learner Management System also known as LMS, is described by Greenberg (2002) as a “strategic solution for planning, delivering, and managing all learning events within an organization, including online, virtual classroom, and instructor-led courses” (Greenberg, 2002, para.2). An LMS is actually a very broad term that is used to provide a learning environment online to employees, and employers.
Moreover, Greenberg (2002) also adds that the LMS is used as a primary admistration, and manages learners, tracking their progress through the activities provided online. It bascially shows the trainer what activities have been completed and the scores of the exams.
What is a Learner Content Management System?
Carliner (2005) clearly outlines the Course Management System as an “online systems that were originally designed to support classroom learning in academic settings, such as universities and high schools”. CMS are a little different to the LMS as it provides an asynchronous communication and is best used for university’s and schools with distance education. Furthermore, Greenberg (2002) clearly outlines the basic purpose of the LCMS by stating that this system gives the creator information on was to create the e-learning systems for effectively. .
What would i recommend to my organisation?
The system that i would reccomend to my organisation would vary to what the organisation would offer and the budget. As established the Learner Management System is effective but quiet expensive. Luxottica is the company i am currently working at, and i believe that the LMS system would be most appropriate to the company needs. Because learning and development is vital for the optometrist within the organisation, posting all the courses online would be an advantage for the employees. Yes it will be an expensive system to put in place but putting into perspective that there are over 500 employees, in the long run the online database would be more profitable for the organisation.
Carliner, S. 2005, Course Management System Versus Learner Management Systems, Learning Circuits, viewed 24/05/08, http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/Nov2005/carliner.htm
Greenberg, L. 2002, LMS and LCMS: What’s the Difference, Learning Circuits, viewed 23/04/08, <http://www.learningcircuits.org/NR/exeres/72E3F68C-4047-4379-8454-2B88C9D38FC5.htm >.
I have used second life only briefly, and during the time i was using this system i found the applications and the system was quiet hard to use. On the contrary i can also see how useful this system can be to facilitate and teach users within organisational context.
Because second life is 3D and almost real, learning is enjoyable, interactive and interesting. Organisations such as DOCS can use second life and other virtual networks to train their new employees. For example, second life can be used to create situattions where DOCS have had to step into a family and remove the children, through second life the situation can be illustrated as not acceptable and the new employees will then have the visual experience of what to do and how.
Social networking has become the new buzz word in todays society. Everywhere i go i can hear “Facebook”, “Myspace” and “Bebo”. Am i a user on these pages- NO. Reason- i believe that these so called social networking systems are not quiet social. People do not leave home, but instead log onto their webpage and communicate with their friends via the internet. Call me old fashion, but i believe that the best way of communication is face to face. The only reason why i would get Facebook or Myspace is if i had a company to advertise or if i had relatives or friends that lived overseas, as the internet would be a cheaper and more effective means of communication. Boyd (2007) states that using text, images, video, audio, links, quizzes, and surveys, teens generate a profile that expresses how they see themselves (Boyd, 2007, para. 7). Hence this actually supports what i am trying to say, its more about who is the most popular and has how many friends rather than real means of communication between people.
The only experience of social networks i have had is when friends log into their accounts and look at other peoples photos. Which i found enjoyable, but i still stand firm on the notion that it decreases socialising, and promotes antisocial means of communication i.e- internet.
How could social networks be used in a learning context?
As i am quiet negative about social networks, i dont believe these systems will promote education or learning for that matter. Additionally if educators were to try and teach youths on these social networks it would be very hard to enforce the learning as it is not a classroom function, and it would be hard to monitor the students actions.
Boyd, D. 2007, Social network sites: public, private or what?, The knowledge tree, viewed 23/04/08 <http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/edition-13/social-network-sites-public-private-or-what/>.
After searching high and low, i have finally pin pointed the place where my community centre is situated. The closest community centre to Ashfield is in Summer Hill, a 2 min drive from my house.
I was pretty amazed at how difficult it was to find a community centre around the area i lived. Quiet ironically i called the Department of Community Services, that is DOCS who are responsible for the coordination and funding of community centres. I thought if i got in contact with the headoffice, which is actually situated in Ashfield they will guide me to the closest community centre around here. Once i called and asked the person from DOCS on the other line, she said she did not know and to contact trhe council. I thought this was quiet amusing considering the drive behind these community centres are DOCS themselves.
After some research on google, i found the closest community centre to Ashfield, which was Summer Hill. I went inside took a few photos, and collected a few brochures.
Summer Hill Community Centre was bigger than what i imagined, and provides help and facilities to people who are in need of help.
The recreational services the community centre provides is:
- Dance for Adults
-Yoga
- Theatre appreciation
- Card Group
- Pilates and Meditation.
The Summer Hill Community Centre also provides services to help those in need, which include:
-The aged care service
-Family therapy for adoptive families
-Mental Health respite program
- Special needs subsidy scheme
- Gambling & Financial Counselling Service.
Most of the services that the community centre provides to the public are at no cost, although there are some services that are offered are charged depending on the income of the person/family.
Last week when i attended class the program was centred on second life, with Jo presenting. Jo was showing us what she does on second life and how it could be used within organisations for training and development purposes. Anne mentioned how this could be relevant in the future for DOCS if they implemented such a system.
Although, last year with Victoria (my lecturer) we used second life, and she asked if everybody could try and use it just to get a feel of the system. From my past experience with second life i found that the system was quiet confusing and time consuming. Although i beleive that if second life was improved for the experiences of the users, then DOCS will be able to take advantage of such a system.
Anne said that if DOCS incorporated second life to train and develop their employees, then their services to the public would become more effecient and effective. I belive this is only possible if second life was made to use in a simpler less confusing form.
Synchronous communication is when people are logged on online all together and communicate and collaborate on issues, conversations, and topics spoken about. Some examples of Synchronous communication is: msn, chat rooms and confrenece calls.
The benefit of synchronous communication is that people could could talk and communicate with people in the comfort of their own home, work station orvirtually anywhere- where the laptop or PC connects them. The advantages is that when people are liasing with people overseas, interstate or at late nights can do so without meeting in person, but rather connect online through these communication technologies.
In the activity guide it states that: “current trends in e-learning are indicating that effective learning can be advanced through the use of these communication techniques”. I beleive that in the current environment there are many drivers that suggest this statement, and they are as follows:
1. The new cyber generation: The cyber generation prefers to communicate via the web as oppose to meeting and greeting people in person
2. Technology is continually updating: the change in technology is inevitable, people are updating technology so that it is better, faster and a prefered way of communicating
3.Distance Education: People that are in rural areas and are completeing courses can know do so via podcast and vodcast of online learning material.
In contrast, asynchronous communication is basically the opposite of synchronous communication, that is that the computer can be connected to the fax machine and printer without always working when the computer is on. A example of asynchronous communication is email.
The benefit of asynchronous communication is that people can communicate/ or deliver a message even if they are able to sit and have a long conversation. The current trends that encourage asynchronous learning is adult learners. There are people that are already in the workforce who are going back to get a degree or certificate. People that are in this range would prefer asynchronous communication technologies as it is available when they are ready to learn and access the information.
During class last week, Brett and a few of his collegues did a presentation on what they do for work. Brett and two of his collegues work for DOCS. DOCS is a government body which stands for the department of Community Services.
Brett and two of his collegues expalined what the department is responsible for, which is to protect young people from abusive parents, or any potential danger in their daily surroundings. Our class is responsible for trying to help Brett and his team in new technological advancements in the workplace. We are helping them find out about what particular technology will be of best practice at DOCS by submitting an assignment with recommendations on the use of the technology and the appropriatness of the technology to their specific audience.
I am in a group that has to focus on podcasting and vodcasting, and how these two devices will help DOCS do their job at a much better standard. We are responsible for researching and making suggestions on how DOCS can use this to better their practices. I have decided to work on podcasting with IPods in an educational context.
During the presentation with Brett and his collegues we were asked to research a community centre in our local area. So i will be researching a youth centre and see what they do for the youth.
RSS is a web based application that enables users to recieve news and update directly to the page they want it sent to rather than viewing the website itself. The way that this occurs is that RSS aggregates information from the websites that get updated and send it through your preferred web page or home page.
RSS can be used in this subject in numerous ways. We can use RSS to update students with new articles that get added onto learning circuits, use RSS for updating students on changes and updates that have been made by fellow students of wikispaces, and use RSS to receive information on articles that may help us with our assignments.
The aggregation of material is referring to simply putting together or gathering information into a space you allocate the particular information to go into. It pretty much consolidates information from a number of web pages and gathers all relevant information that is selected through RSS into one web page. Again, aggregation can be used in this subject to put all articles relevant to assignments into one web page, which will make it easier for us when we need to do our assignments.
There are a few web based applications that i am fimiliar with, which include: weblogs, chat, e- portfolios, social networks and podcasting.
Weblogs: I am fimiliar with weblogs as i have been doing it for two years at university for e-learning course requirements.
Chat: I have used msn as a chatting website, where i can see which of my friends are online and send messages to them via the internet and they can do the same.
E-portfolios: I am quiet fimilaor with e-portfolios as i have had to create one for my e-portfolio classes, my e-portfolios include my reflection to what i have learnt, information about myself, and assignments i have completed.
Social Networks: I have browsed and used socila networks such as facebook and myspace.
Podcasting: the only type of podcasting that i am aware of is the one that is available on Kyle and Jacky’O. where people can access there website and download anything that they have broadcasted in the past.
The web based applications that i would like to explore further would be RSS and aggregation, and web confrencing.
In my work context i have had experience with e-learning by being able to read and write about material through web based applications. I have been able to communicate and collaborate with other learners across the world regardless of the time zone. E-learning has helped me develop new skills and expand current skills and knowledge i previously has via the internet.
The different types of delivery i have experienced, is through web discusions with other learners about certain topics and issues, being able to view other peoples web logs to see what they have learnt and their thoughts and feelings on a specific topic/issue. At work we are able to access the intranet and send messgaes to other stores and branches if we have issues.
Although i think in my work context e-learning has not been launched to its full potential. There are many underlying problems with my current workplace such as lack of funding for e-learning, and that they are still delayed with the latest technology advacements. If e-learning was supported more in the workplace i believe that there will be more cohesiveness and collaboration of information and new ideas.
