Kirsten’s E-Learning Blog

As stated on my first page, I have decided to base my program on a home page contained within the DoCS intranet and held on the DoCS server. The reason I chose to hold all the content on the DoCS server was to ensure confidentiality and security of the files and content posted into the various areas of the technology mashup. In order to best explain my technology recommendations, I should define a mashup.

According to Lin (2007)

Mashups are a simple and powerful Web 2.0 content creation/reuse technology that lets users integrate information from multiple sources to provide an enriched experience. For example, it’s possible to build a Website that shows application-specific data next to photos selected from Flickr at run time or atop locations displayed on a Google map.

The technologies I have chosen to include in my technology mashup are: vodcasts, learner profile pages, discussion boards, wikis, webinars, and a file exchange.

Vodcasts were chosen to communicate to the program participants the focus of the program and some of the expectations of the participants while they are involved in the program. The vodcast would also give the participants a visual of who the learning is being taught by, and aid them in forming a relationship with them throughout the program. Many educational institutions have used vodcasts, including those part of the UChannel program, to communicate academic lectures and events across the world. However, in the case of DoCS, the vodcasts would be contained to the DoCS server and program home page.

Learner profile pages were chosen in order to allow participants to introduce themselves to other participants completing the program at the same time. They would look similar to a Facebook or Ning profile, however they would be more focused on the location of the participant, where they work and what their role is, and how the program content relates to their work.

The reason discussion boards were included in my technology mashup is simple. As much as adult learners prefer to be autonomous and self directed, they also like to learn collaboratively and have close relationships with others, as described by the constructivist and humanist learning theories respectively. Through a discussion board, learners can work through the program materials in the document exchange (discussed in more detail further down the page) and then answer questions posed by the content within the discussion board. This can then be added to by other participants, and their learning can become more well rounded as a result, as they receive different perspectives on the same idea. The person (or people) involved in teaching the program would also be able to post to the discussion board to answer any particular questions or queries.

Wikis were chosen to contain the groupwork component of the program. Throughout the various modules in the face-to-face program, there were groupwork activities. These have been adapted to the e-Learning realm by having the activities completed on a wiki. Groups will be allocated at the beginning of each program, and the participants will have to work together in order to complete the activities and post content that can be shared between all participants in their particular program, like the wiki used for e-Learning Design.

The webinar technology was chosen to form a concluding element of the program. All participants would meet online in the webinar at a specific time on a predetermined date to discuss the learning they had undertaken throughout the program. This would also give them a chance to interact with the person (or people) teaching the program, as well as their fellow participants.

Finally, the file exchange was chosen as a way of communicating information and program content to the participants without the need to send it to each participant individually through email, for example. The file exchange would hold all the content the participants need in order to complete the program, giving them resources to complete the activities (also held in the file exchange) and contribute to the discussion board and concluding webinar.

Lin, K-J., 2007, “Building Web 2.0″, Computer, vol.40, no.5, pp.101-102

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