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On-line Learning Tools?
As a follow-up question to last year's query about distance learning tools, denny_d asks: "I've been looking around for awhile for an OS e-learning tool. Been using Viewlets for awhile and recently tested Claroline which looks very promising. Are there any other OS apps I should know about for creating learning/training environments on the web?" Have there been any new technologies or projects that have made a big splash in the Distance Learning scene in the last year? What can teachers looking to implement such courses look forward to, and what issues might they have to watch out for?
Flash, powerpoint, etc... comes to mind. It's the same story. They can be used for an advantage, but I would have to agree that most of the time they are only distracting.
The advantage of interactive learning tools is that people who are not computer-literate often see everything on a computer as a game, and enjoys interacting with it, whereas they find a technical book boring. If you are offering a real course, for really interested students, it doesn't matter much, but if you're trying to get your customers/employees/etc to learn something against their will, it might be easier to force them through something many of them would consider at least somewhat fun.
Personally, I would prefer a well-written book to anything on the web (reading from a computer screen is terrible, and switching back and forth between windows to try out examples is counterproductive).
On the other hand, if you are offering a course, then you need to communicate with the students (and they with each other). A mailing list combined with a web-based archive (or a web-log/wiki/etc kind of thingy combined with automatical mailings about changes) might be a good idea. The problem is that they kind of limit your conversation to text and hyperlinks, but so does any distance-learning tool.
> The advantage of interactive learning tools is that people who are not computer-literate often see everything on a computer as a game, and enjoys interacting with it, whereas they find a technical book boring.
> Personally, I would prefer a well-written book to anything on the web (reading from a computer screen is terrible, and switching back and forth between windows to try out examples is counterproductive).
I'd have to agree slightly and disagree slightly with you on those. I do agree that a good book is much easier and more pleasant to read from. However one area I think the computer can come into it is in the interactive part.
I don't mean flashy animations and stuff.
I mean things like presenting the student with a series of semi-randomly generated practice problems they can do. Then, and here's the clever bit, monitoring where they do well and where they do poorly, and presenting them with help in their weak areas and putting less focus on the areas they do well. Something a book can't do.
We use a simple semi-random question/answer web based system at my work to give students practice at various skills. It marks the questions on the spot, and shows the student which questions they get wrong a lot or right a lot so they know where to focus. It's very simple, but it's already becoming quite popular among students. And that's not even beginning to look at all the possibilities of it automatically changing the focus of the material it gives them.
I think we're still in the infancy of online learning systems. People are still thinking "powerpoint slides", when there's a terrific amount more we can do.
- MugginsM