This video reflects much of what I have experienced as an educator. I work in the outward reaching arm of an FE/HE College where interaction is with industry and individuals employed within those industries. None of my learners attend the college campus so the VLE (Repository) has a huge importance of being a place where learners can access the resources that they need and communicate with other learners that they will not have a chance to meet in a face-to-face setting. Just as the OU, it is our Virtual Campus and main system of communication and delivery.
Just as mentioned in the video there are such strict guidelines and controls (brought in by the college themselves), that may(!) meet the needs of the full time attending learners but creates a headache for access for those off-site. I think it may be a slight ‘bubble culture’ as the college campuses are rural and are like a village in the middle of the countryside.
An example would be for the simple process of creating a log-in account for learners. No learner will be willing (or should be) to travel to the campus (which can be over 60 miles for many of them) just to sign a form to get access. This is what full time attending students do and there is no additional system for off-site since Sept 2013. Most of my e-Learning development time is spent on negotiating with this ‘polices and procedures’ to meet the needs for remote learners for issues such as this. It becomes additionally difficult when other policies detail only specific systems and resources that can be used. There does seem to be an ever-increasing control approach by IT Support and I think some of this may be due to their own concerns on safeguarding.
When barriers like this occur it is often hard to get other education delivery staff to commit to the use of eLearning and to be honest there have been times when I have considered making it far simpler and use my own blogging/free resources to deliver and remove all resources from the VLE.
In the end, I have compromised. I use the college’s VLE as a base but then signpost out frequently to other resources. Just as mentioned in the video, many free resources are far better at a job than the ‘repository features’. For example, I don’t use the Quiz formats available on moodle as I find them a little dull and difficult to create (some of the technical language I just don’t understand). Instead I use Quizdini, Blubbr and other online quiz creators that look great and allow for learners to challenge their friends on social media. They are free or cheap, easy to use, look great and learners like them – just as summarised in the video.
Additionally, the wikis on moodle have strong administration controls set by the IT Support team. Therefore an external wiki will be far more functional and user friendly.
I felt that the comment of the quality of search engines was very relevant. The quality of search data is so far improved and allows learners to connect and identify quality sources of information (Connectivism).
Inter-operability is another issue. The college places strict controls on laptops so staff will find it impossible to update features such as Java. Not useful when you are trying to update so to be able to use new features that are constantly coming on to the market.
I understand that there has to be a level of control by IT support but when learners will be accessing resources externally which will require use of features such as java or flash, there must be the flexibility to allow educators to have some autonomy and trust in their own initiative of what is acceptable and unacceptable use of IT systems or it will just slow or stop progress.
This control culture may be the driver that makes educators follow the path away from Learning Objects. From my perspective I look to combine the use of our Learning Object (VLE) and use the features that are accessible and user friendly, however I am not 100% loyal to that system and will be creative to use something else if it does it better.
Learning Objects - Experiences and Views 240314
This video reflects much of what I have experienced as an educator. I work in the outward reaching arm of an FE/HE College where interaction is with industry and individuals employed within those industries. None of my learners attend the college campus so the VLE (Repository) has a huge importance of being a place where learners can access the resources that they need and communicate with other learners that they will not have a chance to meet in a face-to-face setting. Just as the OU, it is our Virtual Campus and main system of communication and delivery.
Just as mentioned in the video there are such strict guidelines and controls (brought in by the college themselves), that may(!) meet the needs of the full time attending learners but creates a headache for access for those off-site. I think it may be a slight ‘bubble culture’ as the college campuses are rural and are like a village in the middle of the countryside.
An example would be for the simple process of creating a log-in account for learners. No learner will be willing (or should be) to travel to the campus (which can be over 60 miles for many of them) just to sign a form to get access. This is what full time attending students do and there is no additional system for off-site since Sept 2013. Most of my e-Learning development time is spent on negotiating with this ‘polices and procedures’ to meet the needs for remote learners for issues such as this. It becomes additionally difficult when other policies detail only specific systems and resources that can be used. There does seem to be an ever-increasing control approach by IT Support and I think some of this may be due to their own concerns on safeguarding.
When barriers like this occur it is often hard to get other education delivery staff to commit to the use of eLearning and to be honest there have been times when I have considered making it far simpler and use my own blogging/free resources to deliver and remove all resources from the VLE.
In the end, I have compromised. I use the college’s VLE as a base but then signpost out frequently to other resources. Just as mentioned in the video, many free resources are far better at a job than the ‘repository features’. For example, I don’t use the Quiz formats available on moodle as I find them a little dull and difficult to create (some of the technical language I just don’t understand). Instead I use Quizdini, Blubbr and other online quiz creators that look great and allow for learners to challenge their friends on social media. They are free or cheap, easy to use, look great and learners like them – just as summarised in the video.
Additionally, the wikis on moodle have strong administration controls set by the IT Support team. Therefore an external wiki will be far more functional and user friendly.
I felt that the comment of the quality of search engines was very relevant. The quality of search data is so far improved and allows learners to connect and identify quality sources of information (Connectivism).
Inter-operability is another issue. The college places strict controls on laptops so staff will find it impossible to update features such as Java. Not useful when you are trying to update so to be able to use new features that are constantly coming on to the market.
I understand that there has to be a level of control by IT support but when learners will be accessing resources externally which will require use of features such as java or flash, there must be the flexibility to allow educators to have some autonomy and trust in their own initiative of what is acceptable and unacceptable use of IT systems or it will just slow or stop progress.
This control culture may be the driver that makes educators follow the path away from Learning Objects. From my perspective I look to combine the use of our Learning Object (VLE) and use the features that are accessible and user friendly, however I am not 100% loyal to that system and will be creative to use something else if it does it better.