EDUCATION BLOG

Introduction

An online course can be defined as a specific mode of electronic learning activities involving a program of study where the students rarely or never meet face-to-face. Online course also use internet-based tools such as Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) or Learning Management Systems (LMSes), discussion boards or chat rooms.

Online make use of synchronous and asynchronous medium in reaching the student. Most technologies use in an online course falls under these categories.

Synchronous technologies

• Web-based VoIP
• Telephone
• Videoconferencing
• Web conferencing
• Direct-broadcast satellite
• Internet radio
• Live streaming

Asynchronous technologies

• Audiocassette
• E-mail
• Message board forums
• Print materials
• Voice Mail/fax
• Videocassette/DVD

An online course deployment is Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based Learning platform. It employs computer and internet tools for contents access with delivery and may be designed as a “blended” approach, with content available electronically and remotely.

Access and electronic formats of online courses

The learner in an online program access the course materials over the Web at any time of day or night. Lecturing and teaching online requires similar skills and techniques teachers and lecturers use in traditional classes.

In the traditional classroom environment, learning activities revolve round:

1. Textbooks

2. Research Papers

3. Journals

4. Print and Electronic Materials in physical formats such CD-ROMs, etc

5. Other readings, along with what they get from library research, Internet resources, and other resources that will be physically access in the classroom

On the other hand, learners and students in an Online course environment rely on

1. Email

2. Conferencing software

3. Chat

4. Social Network Media

5. Other Asynchronous modes of communication for the interaction

Most of this Asynchronous media is fast becoming popular with the easy adaption to mobile devices with user friendly interfaces that makes discussions and fruitful interaction increasingly educational and entertaining.

Therefore In an online course, students cannot simply raise their hand to ask a question as they would in a classroom. Email and conferencing software becomes a very best substitution with a convincing positive learning and teaching result. flexible

In addition, thanks to the flexibility of the Web, students participation more in online class discussions than the face-to-face environment. Freedom of speech and expression is more secured within the scope set by policy guiding the online program. There is also the flexibility and access to contents delivery. Here, they can log on and access class materials and discussions at virtually any time of day.

Finally, the potential for collaborative work and small-group discussions among students who may never meet face-to-face is what makes Web-based courses so exciting and so powerful an educational format.

I found the following both depressing, and promising:

When wearing my Wimba hat, I often remind my audience that it’s only been about a decade since the modern format of online courses was put into place. The current configuration of combining course management systems, web conferencing, instant messaging, message boards, etc. to teach a class to students in a classroom and/or their pajamas barely existed in the 20th century, so when one stops to consider the idea that collegiate courses had been taught (more or less) in the exact same manner since ancient Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia, it’s quite startling to see how quickly this transformation has transpired.

Obviously this format of modern courses is still being tweaked, but it certainly appears that much of the technological and pedagogical foundation is firmly in place. As of today, the dawn of the ‘10s, tens of thousands of postsecondary faculty, either because of or in spite of their ability and/or willingness, have already taken the plunge and incorporated technologies into their courses – often with a great deal of success.

via Views: Switching Sides – Inside Higher Ed.

Surely, this can’t be it — it can’t be that Sakai + Twitter + a blog or Wiki is what all future studies will call the “traditional” form of online courses?  What about amazingly and powerful collaborative spaces like Kansas, and provably better ways of teaching with technology like cognitive tutors?  Surely we can do better than what’s being used today?

It’s that second step that’s more promising.  We can do much better than that.  It’s not even very hard.  Have you seen the great new tools that CMU has made available for building your own cognitive tutors?  I’ve learned that there is a term for those trying to change education through radical on-line approaches: “edupunks.”

“The edupunks are on the march. From VC-funded startups to the ivied walls of Harvard, new experiments and business models are springing up from entrepreneurs, professors, and students alike. Want a class that’s structured like a role-playing game? An accredited bachelor’s degree for a few thousand dollars? A free, peer-to-peer Wiki university? These all exist today, the overture to a complete educational remix.” (From How Web-Savvy Edupunks are Transforming American Higher Education)

While I’m not convinced that a tool like the MIT Open Courseware initiative is as impactful as the edupunks say it is, I realize that I share their vision.  Distance education could be an important way of making higher education available for many people who do not have access to it today.  And what we have today in the way of distance education is demonstrably bad.

I’m an academic who works in education research.  For people like me, an easily-beat standard is a hand-written invitation to do better with inventions, studies, results, and papers.  I once heard John Anderson respond to the question, “Can you explain your enormous success with cognitive tutors?  Why are you able to do so much better than traditional approaches?”  His answer: “It’s easy.  Just find something taught really, really badly today. That’s not hard to find!”  (Do note that the topics that Anderson “found” first for his cognitive tutors were Geometry and programming in Lisp and Pascal.)  Maybe Anderson was the first “edupunk”?

The ITaP Distance Education Incentive Awards Program awards $30,000 in funds to qualified distance education courses. This year, ten Purdue faculty members received an award of $3000 each for developing or enhancing their distance education courses.

To be eligible for this award, each of the following faculty members attended a two day workshop, consulted with ITaP staff and developed a distance education course.  ITaP’s instructional technology staff reviewed and ranked submitted courses based on the course design, interaction/collaboration, assessment, and learner support:

•    Douglas Baumann and Tilman Achberger, STAT 598E — Introduction to Experimental Design
•    William Crum, CS 159 — Programming Applications for Engineers
•    Luciana C. de Oliveira, EDCI 591 — English Language Development
•    Nadine Dolby, EDCI 591 — Global Perspective in the Classroom
•    Teresa Doughty, EDPS 665 — Collaboration and Transition Practices in Special Education
•    Julia Kalish, IT 342 — Introduction to Statistical Quality
•    Eric Kukula, IT 332 — Purchasing, Inventory and Warehouse Management
•    Timothy Newby, EDCI 270 — Introduction to Educational Technology and Computing
•    Silvia Oliveira, SPAN 235 — Great Latin American Books
•    Jennifer Richardson, EDCI 566 — Educational Applications of Hypermedia

Due to budget restraints, ITaP has suspended the Distance Education Incentive Awards program for the next school year. ITaP will still offer faculty-technology workshops over spring break.  Scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, March 16 and 17, the training is open to all Purdue University faculty members and staff who have developed, interested in developing  a distance-education course, or are interested in creating blended online activities for a traditional course.

New Delhi, March 4th 2010: K.Balaji & Sabina Khan are the winners of the Vidyadeep, a national level case study competition conducted by Sikkim Manipal University – Distance Education (SMU-DE) at “EDGE”, the national forum focusing on “Emerging Directions in Global Education” today. They received a prize of Rs. 75,000 from the guest of honour Sri Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation. Today’s contest was a culmination of more than six weeks of activity and enthusiastic participation from MBA students of SMU-DE, one of the largest providers of Distance Education in India. At this prestigious forum, the six zonal winner teams presented their solutions of a pre-distributed case, to distinguished academicians and marketing specialists from across industries. The first runner up team – Ajay Maheshwari & Nishchint Gogia took home Rs. 50,000 & the second runner up team – Tasaduq Bhat & Pallavi Singh won Rs. 25,000. The other teams took home a consolation prize of Rs. 10,000. As part of the Vidyadeep scholarship programme, the Vidyadeep annual case study contest “a pioneering initiative” was launched specifically for MBA students of SMU-DE, thus providing them a platform to showcase their superior problem solving skills and decision making abilities in a business environment. Over 250 teams from across the country participated. SMU-DE in December 2009, in an effort to recognise and reward meritorious and deserving students and help them in their quest for quality higher education, launched Vidyadeep a Nationwide Scholarship programme for 1500 meritorious and deserving students of SMU-DE programs across India. Out of these 1500 scholarships, 500 scholarships are earmarked for students from the North East alone. This scholarship is a ‘first-of-its-kind pioneering initiative’ in the field of distance education in the country! About SMU & SMU-DE Sikkim Manipal University is a unique public-private initiative between the Govt. of Sikkim and Manipal Education. SMU, a state University, is recognized by the UGC, Ministry of HRD and is a member of the Associations of Indian Universities. The Distance Education Council has granted recognition to all Distance Education programs offered under the aegis of SMU (Sikkim Manipal University). The SMU Directorate of Distance Education is ISO 9001:2000 certified. Sikkim Manipal University – Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DE) is amongst the largest distance education providers in India and offers Post Graduate, Degree and Diploma programs across 10 disciplines. The SMU DDE was established in 2001 by the Sikkim Manipal University of Health, Medical and Technological Sciences as part of its efforts to bring education to the masses to fulfill the growing demand for professionals and individuals who do not have the luxury of time to join regular, full-time courses. The programs offered by SMU are recognized by the Distance Education Council of the Government of India. As a part of its continuous efforts to improve pedagogy and instructional system in distance learning, Manipal has recently introduced EduNXT, the next-generation interactive learning system. Affordable and easy to use, EduNXT enables a collaborative and interactive environment for learning thus shifting the Education paradigm from being ‘faculty-centric’ to a ‘learner-centric’, thus making quality education available to all, at the convenience of their own time and location. For more details please log on to www.smude.edu.in

Manipal Education is principal sponsor for EDGE 2010 (Emerging Directions in Global Education) scheduled from 3rd – 5th March, 2010 at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. The conference will consist of an International Conference and Workshops, Exhibition on global education trends, attended by dignitaries, govt. officials, industry captains and trend-setters in the field of higher education. Widely covered by international and national media, EDGE 2010 will be inaugurated by Shri. Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister for HRD on 4th March 2010. Dr. Martha Kanter, Under Secretary, Education Department, US Government will lead the delegation. The national level finals for Vidyadeep, SMU-DE’s national case study competition for MBA students will be hosted at EDGE. Previous events @ 4 zones saw winners being picked to present their solutions to a business case study at EDGE 2010. The Sikkim Manipal University’s Distance Education (SMU-DE) programme has more than 3 lac students on its rolls and is one of the largest student strengths of Distance Education in India. Vidyadeep provides students scholarship opportunities as well as the opportunity to present their business aptitude to industry and academic experts at EDGE 2010. Winners will also bag prizes worth more than Rs.1.5 lac. Manipal Education will also host a stall at EDGE 2010. For more details visit http://www.smude.edu.in To get a better picture about the programme, click on http://www.smude.edu.in/Documents/Manipal-Education-is-principal-sponsor-for.pdf

Mumbai, Wednesday February 24^th 2010: Vidyadeep, a national level case study competition by Sikkim Manipal University, Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DE), has announced the winner of West Zonal finals held yesterday in the city.

Shrinki Chawla and Sweta M. Nagar, MBA, have been declared the winners of the Zonal level finals. They will now compete with the winners of the other 3 zones in the national level finals. The four zonal winners will be given an opportunity to present their solution to the case study at “EDGE”, the national forum focusing on “Emerging Directions in Global Education” next month in New Delhi.

The competition is open to the MBA students of SMU-DE, one of the largest providers of Distance Education in India. Teams of two students each from more than 700 SMU-DE learning centers across country will participate in this nation wide competition. Team will submit essays on the topic “Entrepreneurship – The Next Growth Strategy in India”.  The teams are divided into four zones – North, South, East and West, with 10 winners chosen from all four zones competing in the national level finals scheduled to take place on 4^th March 2010 in Delhi.

This case study competition provides students an opportunity to make their presentations to industry and academic experts at the forum, thereby giving them a platform to showcase their talent. Winners will also bag prizes worth more than Rs.1.5 lakhs.

About SMU & SMU-DE

Sikkim Manipal University is a unique public-private initiative between the Govt. of Sikkim and Manipal Education. SMU, a state University, is recognized by the UGC, Ministry of HRD and is a member of the Associations of Indian Universities. The Distance Education Council has granted recognition to all Distance Education programs offered under the aegis of SMU (Sikkim Manipal University). The SMU Directorate of Distance Education is ISO 9001:2000 certified.

For more details please visit: http://mba2010.smude.edu.in

i am CANADIAN! i am proud to be CANADIAN!  The XXI Winter Olympics were a turning point for the country and have become a major source of pride and chest-beating from sea, to sea, to sea and even overseas!  It is nothing short of spectacular; indeed one could even say it is almost un-CANADIAN! Canada?  Top of the gold table?  At an Olympics? Take off, eh!

Canadians are far more used to coming up short at Olympic Games that we host. Infact, before the Games of the XXI Winter Olympiad in Vancouver, we were the only host country never to have won even one GOLD medal at an Olympic Games that we’ve hosted.  And, being CANADIAN, we took that dubious honour to the next level, we’d failed when hosting both Summer and Winter games.  Prior to 2010 Canada hosted the XXI Summer Olympics in Montréal and the XV Winter Games in Calgary. Not only did we fail to win even one of the 198 gold medals on offer in Montréal, we also walked away from Calgary, empty handed,  without even one of the 46 gold medals up for grabs.

Participating in an Olympic Games is, for most athletes, something they can only dream of.  Only a select few of those constantly training, day in and day out, qualify to represent their nation on the Olympic stage.

Attending an Olympic Games as a sports fan is also far from common; they only occur alternately every two years, Summer Games followed by Winter Games; they are held all over the world and can be prohibitively expensive to go to and difficult to get tickets for.  In 1975 i applied for tickets for the 1976 Games.  In February of ‘76 i was informed that i was going to be allowed to purchase some tickets!  Not for the popular Opening and Closing Ceremonies but for a wide range of sports including swimming, track and field and several finals: Field Hockey, Grand Prix Team Equestrian Jumping and Football. i ended up having an extra ticket to the football final and scalped it on the morning of the final.  The Pole buying the ticket couldn’t believe i only wanted the face value of the ticket; i asked him to buy me a beer that evening as i’d be sitting right beside him.  He was more than happy to oblige.

We also managed to see some events for free: the marathon, canoeing.  It was at the canoeing where the spirit of the Olympics really came to life.  We were just walking along the basin when two young men in green and gold came up and started talking to us.  The first time in my life i’d ever met Aussies.  They were extremely friendly and we chatted briefly about their medal hopes (none against the Eastern European juggernaut). Little was i to know that meeting them would the beginning of a wonderful, albeit distance, relationship with Australia and Australians. (Between 1993 and 2004 i established some sort of world record for successfully completing a Masters degree (11 years: off and on) at UniSA in Adelaide; currently my spouse and i are Doctoral Candidates at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia).

“Our home and native land” once again hosted Olympic Games, this time the Winter Olympics in 1988 in Calgary, Alberta.  Once again we failed to make the gold grade. But Calgarians did host a good games with the Alpine events up in Banff in the nearby Rocky Mountains.

i wasn’t at these Olympics but my sister Linda, a transplanted eastern, was.  A resident of Calgary since the seventies she, like most Calgarians, originally hailed from a different part of our vast country, drawn to Cowtown by the cowboys, leather and spurs…  Yeehaw! Pindy managed to attend and heartily enjoy several events during the Games. Unfortunately for her, hockey tickets being at a premium, she didn’t manage to see Team Canada lose in its valiant, but fruitless, attempt to even medal at our home games.

Canadians have an affinity for ice hockey.  During the first six Winter Olympic Games, between 1924 and 1952 we brought home the GOLD 5 times.  Then the drought began and a Canadian ice hockey team was not to stand on the top of the podium for another half a century! In 2002 both men’s and women’s teams achieved the gold standard.

The XV Calgary Winter Games marked the advent of the Super Giant Slalom to the Games and also saw the premiere of curling as a demonstration sport and short-track speed skating and freestyle skiing as demonstration disciplines.  These additions were to bode well for our next hosting of an Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010.

my daughter Ayun, a Hospitality student at Vancouver Community College, was intimately involved in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.  Not even a gleam in her father’s eye the last time Canada hosted the Olympics, during these Games Ayun worked as a house-keeper in the Whistler Olympic Village which housed the Alpine event athletes.  She spent her days off soaking in the atmosphere, otherwise she put in 14 hour days changing athletes’ bedding and cleaning their rooms.

CUSO Nigeria comrade Peter “Dogo” Herd, living in Vancouver, had a joyous time taking in all the Olympic fever and festivities in the host city. Another former colleague, Kevin Watson, flew himself and his family from Japan for the GOLD medal men’s ice hockey final.  His brother provided him with his ticket. He is sure the money spent was well worth it; a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Canada came up GOLD big time in Vancouver of the 86 gold medals on tap we managed 14, a new record record for any nation at a Winter Olympics, let alone a host.  Freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win GOLD at home.  His medal presentation ceremony was witnessed by 22,000 jubliant fellow Canadians.

Canadian women came up GOLD in the ice hockey tournament for the third time running. A feat unparalleled since Canadian men won GOLD consecutively for the first three Winter Games in 1924, 1928 and 1932. Their on ice efforts were rewarded with GOLD.  After the medal ceremony, after everyone had left, the women decided to have a little on ice ceremony of their own.  In typically politically correct Canadian fashion they were castigated for their impromptu party which included cigars and a jeroboam of beer. Take off, eh!

Canada‘s ice-hockey glory was to continue with a thrilling home-ice win by the men which featured nail-biting tension and over-time glory when Jarome Iginla, on his knees and elbows passed the puck to Sidney Crosby for the GOLD winning goal. President Obama had to make good on a friendly wager with Cdn. Prime Minster Harper; the stakes? A case of amber nectar: beer.  It is said that Harper, rightly, refused to accept the piss-weak American version of our national beverage in payment of the cross-border wager. Could someone be fined here for out of state betting?

The Games, for all their fun, friendly atmosphere and convivial competition were not short of problems.  The balmy weather in host city Vancouver high-lighted problems with the snow on the slopes in Whistler and Cypress Mountain.  The death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, while tragic, was not unprecedented.  The luge is a thrilling but dangerous event. Polish-born British luger Kazimierz Kay-Skrzypecki was killed on a trial run on the Olympic course at Igls two weeks before the start of the 1964 Innsbruck Games in Austria.  Skiers have died in separate incidents in the 1988 and 1992 Games. Two athletes have fallen in the summer games, during competition; 23 year old Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen’s collapse and subsequent death during the 1960 Rome games led to enhanced drug testing when it was discovered that he was racing under the influence of stimulants. The massacre of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munchen Games will never be forgotten. The horrible intrusion of terrorist violence into the sports arena lives in infamy.

Canada has done well at the XXI Winter Games. At this writing the Para-Olympic Games are only days away. my only serious regret about these Olympic Games is that they were not matched with a traditional Olympic cessation of hostilities around the world.  Used to be warriors would put down their weapons while the Games were being held.  It is a sign of diminished humanity that we, no longer, seem to be able to do this.  Vancouver has also seen its share of Olympic naysayers and protesters.  Those who see no value in the Games probably a) don’t like sports, b) are killjoys and/or c) need to get a life.  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, on the otherhand, utilized the media bonanza garnered by the Olympics to  make their point that Canada needs to clean up its act on the animal cruelty front. Canadian Pamela Anderson amply made her point as she posted a protest letter during the Games to the Prime Minister asking him to stop the annual harp seal cull. She made the appeal during the Winter Olympic Games because “the whole world is watching Canada.”

my one serious question is: Now that we’ve learned how to win (and win big) at home at the Olympics will we lose our Canadian perchance for self-effacement?  It is my hope and prayer that we continue to be true Canadians who let their actions speak louder than their words and that we never become too proud to laugh at ourselves with a whole-hearted beer-belly bellow! Take off, eh!  Indeed!

Kolkatta, Saturday February 26^th 2010: Vidyadeep, a national level case study competition by Sikkim Manipal University, Directorate of Distance Education (SMU-DE), has announced the winner of East Zonal finals held yesterday in the city.

K. Balajee and Sabina Khan, MBA, have been declared the winners of the Zonal level finals. They will now compete with the winners of the other 3 zones in the national level finals. The four zonal winners will be given an opportunity to present their solution to the case study at “EDGE”, the national forum focusing on “Emerging Directions in Global Education” next month in New Delhi.

The competition is open to the MBA students of SMU-DE, one of the largest providers of Distance Education in India. Teams of two students each from more than 700 SMU-DE learning centers across country will participate in this nation wide competition. Team will submit essays on the topic “Entrepreneurship – The Next Growth Strategy in India”.  The teams are divided into four zones – North, South, East and West, with 10 winners chosen from all four zones competing in the national level finals scheduled to take place on 4^th March 2010 in Delhi.

This case study competition provides students an opportunity to make their presentations to industry and academic experts at the forum, thereby giving them a platform to showcase their talent. Winners will also bag prizes worth more than Rs.1.5 lakhs.

About SMU & SMU-DE

Sikkim Manipal University is a unique public-private initiative between the Govt. of Sikkim and Manipal Education. SMU, a state University, is recognized by the UGC, Ministry of HRD and is a member of the Associations of Indian Universities. The Distance Education Council has granted recognition to all Distance Education programs offered under the aegis of SMU (Sikkim Manipal University). The SMU Directorate of Distance Education is ISO 9001:2000 certified.

For more details please visit: http://mba2010.smude.edu.in

Congratulations to all the MMEM who have posted their names in mbabacolod.wordpress.com, please fuse your assignments on the [OSI/MODDLE] this is the format.

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Review your notes and  things that we have discussed in our last meeting. Online forum schedule is on March 6 & 7. All you have to do is read the instructions and write your answers. For further instructions, just drop to [OSI/MOODLE]

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Format of the assignments in softcopy and hardcopy

(CENTER) SULTAN KUDARAT POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE

-> 4 spaces( down)
(center) ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT (Title of your assignments)
-> 4 spaces(down)
(center) IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE SUBJECT OF ORG. MANAGEMENT PRESENTED THIS REQUIREMENTS TO THE FACULTY OF SKSPU.
->(center)
3 ->spaces(down)
-> (center) Submitted by:
3 -> spaces(down)
->(center) Submitted to:

Deadline of assignments is on March 10, 2010.