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M is for M-learning

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Wednesday, 15 Oct 2014, 12:54
  • Jenny Moon
  • Multimodality
  • MOOC
  • Mobile (m-learning)
  • MAODE
  • Microsoft
  • Motivation
  • Moodle
  • Trevor Marchand
  • Dr Yoshay Mor
  • Professor Sugata Mitra
  • Memory

Is 'm-learning' even used anymore? I doubt it had a shelf-life of more than five years, a decade tops. It is just learning courtesy of a computer in your pocket (that smart phone), or a tablet, and of course a laptop. I had a Mac Classic that I took into the garden so that I could write and sunbathe at the same time; was that mobile learning? If I'd been writing something about gardening it could count. For m-learning to be it is more than just taking desktop computing power outside. It is taking advantage of mobility and location, using information 'just in time' to add to your knowledge on the ground. On the beach learning about coastal erosion you use information and apps, or connect with others to better understand what is going on under your feet, for example. Walking the Western Front as you pass over a spot a dead man grabs your leg and tells you their short life story. Col. Sean Brady of the Royal Marines was taking an MBA with the Open University; a busy man, he called the online course 'a university in his pocket'. It had to be.

MOOCs are the current thing. They are changing so quickly I wouldn't doubt that in format, there are many, we are yet to see a settle shape to them, or even the term. It smacks of jargon. Online Course is adequate. A 'free course' would do, though many are short modules, not courses. Is it a MOOC if is compromises of two hours of activities a week over three weeks? Isn't everything free these days? Look at MOOP (massive open online porn). Or don't.

Sugata Mitra is worth following, from his 'hole in the wall' project in India (computers concreted in to slum areas) to themes on educating those in the greatest need of access to computing and the Internet.

Yoshay Mor specailises in patterns in learning design and is particularly strong on MOOCs. Until recently of the OU and IET.

Motivation I believe is the key to all learning. Why else do it? Where there's persistent and consistent motivation there are ways to acquire the knowledge you desire. But what has that got to do with e-learning? Quite a bit if it requires you to find your own way around the Internet. 

There are shelves of books on memory. Without it you unable to learn. How does memory work? Why do we forget? How do we overcome that? You get into neuroscience, surface and deep learning, and learning design. Relevant to learning wherever it might be. 

 

 

 

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Design Museum

H817open MOOCs to get lost

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Wednesday, 15 Oct 2014, 12:58

 

'If you're not lost and confused in a MOOC you are probably doing something wrong'. Martin Weller (18:45 25th March 2013)

 

A terrific webinar hosted by Martin Weller with George Seimens speaking. Link to the recorded event and my notes to follow.

 

I took away some key reasons why OER has a future:

 

1) Hype between terrifying and absurd.

2) State reduction in funding will see a private sector rise.

3) Increase in rest of world's desire for HE OER

4) Certificates growing.

5) The Gap

6) Accelerating time to completion

7) Credit and recognition for students who go to the trouble to gain the competencies.

8) Granular learning competencies and the gradual learning and badging to stitch together competencies.

 

‘MOOCs indicate that we are seeing a complexification of wishes and needs’ - so we need a multispectrum view of what universities do in society. George Seimens, (18:51 25th March 2013).

 

 

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'Hurt' is an 'ear-worm' or 'ohrwurm'

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Sunday, 2 Nov 2014, 17:31

This has nothing to do with a personal desire to self-harm, being a reformed alcoholic or druggie, nor even being maudlin, but I heard Johnny Cash performing 'Hurt' a few days ago (Johnny Vegas on Desert Island Discs) and now have the tune lodged in my head. I think, from the German, this is an 'ear-worm.'

(Earworm, a loan translation of the German Ohrwurm,[1] is a portion of a song or other music that repeats compulsively within one's mind, put colloquially as "music being stuck in one's head." ) Wikipedia.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2341604/johnny_cash_hurt/

A few moving YouTube clips, then I'm off to MusicNotes to download the sheet music. This tool is magic, it plays the tune karoake style and allows you to transpose the song at a click of a button. As a result after six months not touching the thing my guitar is having an outing and the pads of my fingers on my left hand are burning. (Metal stringed acoustic guitar). Finger-nails on my right hand suitably long and ready for action. Its a three-chord song. To get it exactly right another website runs through the precise order to pluck the strings. It'll take a little while to crack, as I'm rusty, but I'll do it. I love to relax this way.

Are the pads of my finger-tips getting fatter? I've never had such a problem keeping them on one string before. I may have to turn to a cat-gut strung classical guitar with a wider bridge.

Ho hum. Hum.

Alternatively I can ditch the guitar and get a friend who used to be a professional musician to play his. Team work. Theme of the week.

 

 

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