elearning_label_higher_education
Interactive Environments and Emerging Technologies for eLearning (IEETeL 2013)
The Interactive Environments and Emerging Technologies for eLearning (IEETeL 2013) workshop and conference will be held 5-8th of June in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It represents an opportunity for researchers, eductors, and technology experts to discuss solutions, trends, and implementation of new technologies in eLearning environments.
For more information, see here.
IEETel 2013 Call for Papers Extended to 1 April
The 4th International workshop on Interactive Environments and Emerging Technologies for eLearning (IEETeL 2013) has extended its call for papers until the 1st of April.
The conference, to be held in the Netherlands from 5-8th of June, will cover a variety of topics, including: 3D virtual learning environments, educational mashups, the semantic web, and augmented reality implementation.
Read on for a full list of paper topics.
Beyond the Net Generation Debate: A Comparison of Digital Learners in Face-to-Face and Virtual Universities
This article was originally published on the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 13, Issue, 4.
The study compares behaviour and preferences towards ICT use in two groups of university students: face-to-face students and online students. A questionnaire was applied to a sample of students from five universities with different characteristics (one offers online education and four offer face-to-face education with LMS teaching support).
A Framework for Developing Competencies in Open and Distance E-Learning
This article was originally published on the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 14, Issue, 1.
Many open universities and distance education institutions have shifted from a predominantly print-based mode of delivery to an online mode characterised by the use of virtual learning environments and various web technologies. This paper describes the impact of the shift to open and distance e-learning (ODeL), as this trend might be called, on the course design practices of faculty members at a small single-mode distance education university in the Philippines. Specifically, the paper presents and analyses the faculty’s perspectives on how their course design practices have changed and issues and challenges arising from these changes.
The findings suggest that faculty training programs in ODeL should aim to develop a comprehensive range of ODeL competencies in a systematic and coherent way. Based on the findings, as well as research on practitioner development in teaching effectively with technology, a framework for developing ODeL competencies among faculty is proposed. Aside from covering the four areas of change in course design practice identified in the study, the framework also specifies levels of expertise (basic, intermediate, and advanced), indicating degrees of complexity of the knowledge and skills required for each area at each level. All of the competencies listed for all four areas at the basic level comprise the minimum competencies for teaching an online distance education course.
Emotive vocabulary in MOOCs: Context and Participant Retention
This article was originally published on the online Journal The European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning – EURODL, issue 1, 2012.
Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) have been growing in popularity with educational researchers, instructors, and learners in online environments. Online discussions are as important in MOOCs as in other online courses. Online discussions that occur in MOOCs are influenced by additional factors resulting from their volatile and voluntary participation structure. This article aims to examine discussions that took place in MobiMOOC in the spring of 2011, a MOOC structured around mobile learning.
This line of inquiry focused on language from the discussions that contained emotive vocabulary in the MobiMOOC discussion forums. Emotive vocabulary is words or phrases that are implicitly emotional (happy, sad, frustrated) or relate to emotional contexts (I wasn’t able to…). This emotive vocabulary, when present, was examined to determine whether it could serve as a mechanism for predicting future and continued participation in the MOOC. In this research, narrative inquiry approach was used in order to shine a light on the possible predictive qualities of emotive text in both participants who withdrew from the course as well as moderately or moderately active participants. The results indicated that emotive vocabulary usage did not significantly predict or impact participation retention in MobiMOOC.
Open content for elearning: Cross-institutional collaboration for education and training in a digital environment
This article was originally published on the International Journal of Education and Development using ICT, Volume 8, issue 3.
The University of the West Indies Open Campus and Athabasca University conducted a pilot workshop to see if open educational resources (OER) could be used to construct curricula. UWIOC was interested in increasing distance education offerings and Athabasca University was interested in expanding programming to offer an online graduate program in Instructional Design. A workshop brought a team together to: come to a consensus on the format of module specifications, select appropriate resources, and to report on the feasibility of the approach. The team produced course outlines and specifications for modules using OER. The following were noted: Use of OER sped the aggregation of content; OER are not available for every topic; OER differ from the desired scope and academic level; they vary in media and content quality; and OER that lack clarity of authorship and copyright are difficult to include in courses.
UNESCO CourseWares
UNESCO-IHE is committed to solving water-related global problems by training potential leaders (particularly from developing regions or countries in transition) who will learn how to successfully manage this valuable resource. UNESCO-IHE aims to make all of its modules available as Open Courseware by 2017. This will allow access to quality educational materials, including lectures and supporting materials such as course notes, PowerPoint presentations, exercises, tools, models and public domain software.
Finnish Open Course Database
What open courses are available in Finland? Search this course database to find open classes in Finnish, Swedish, or English.
OER Support for Institutional Leaders and Faculty
Lumen provides institutional leaders and faculty with consulting support, training, and resources so that they can successfully adopt Open Educational Resources as a way to improve their curriculum and cut costs.
Lumen helps faculty find quality content and tailor it to their course design by funneling apt resources into Open Course Frameworks that align them with general education and specific degree requirements. These open course frameworks are later available for free download and use by any individual or institution.
Lumen also serves as an advisor, aiding institutional leaders in planning for OER use, and deciding how and where to introduce OER courses and degrees. Other services provided include training and support for faculty, and analytics and other support to improve student outcomes.
12th European Conference on e-Learning ECEL-2013
ECEL 2013 will take place near Nice, France, at the end of October.
The 12th edition of the European Conference on eLearning, ECEL 2013, has “Beyond Space and Time: Learning in a Global Context” as its theme. The conference will touch on the following topics: mobile learning, active e-learning, cutting edge design, large scale experiments, worldwide courses, evaluation 2.0, and generation gaps. The deadline for abstract submissions is 10 April 2013.