Using ICT in Further Education

SchoolRack enables you to set up classroom portals for your students and parents to use. There is a reasonable selection of included themes to choose from.

Each student/parent creates their own individual account. They can then search for and join their school as well as joining your class group (either manually or through a generated code).

Not only can you post assignments for students and parents to read and download, but you can also use the inbuilt discussion board, calendar, internal messaging and online assignment collection and assignment grading feature.

It is, also, very easy to include any embeddable content, such as videos and widgets, from other websites. All these  features, help to make SchoolRack a dynamic two-way learning platform, which can be used inside and outside of the classroom.

Your published site, including added files etc, is publicly visible and can be accessed by anyone who knows your website address – in the form of http://schoolrack.com/sitename

This also applies to the topics on the discussion board, which can be read by anyone although only your group members can contribute to the discussions. It is worth noting that ‘password protected sites’ are available for the paid version but not for the basic free version, being reviewed here.

SchoolRack is very easy to use and for those that have not gone down the Moodle route (or something similar), then SchoolRack has plenty to offer!

Designing e-learning is another great video that is well worth watching – all 46 minutes of it!

Dr Itiel Dror gives a very humorous and stimulating presentation demonstrating how the brain’s cognitive architecture underpins learning. The lesson is to optimise your learning by fitting it to the brain.

Dr Dror argues that an understanding of how the brain works is essential in learning design. “New learning technologies make it possible to deliver a great deal, but they also make it possible to fail spectacularly, especially if we focus on the technology rather than on the learner“.

I really liked these two examples which show how the human brain is a “limited machine“. To get the most out of the video make sure you participate in the ‘audience’ activities by following Dr Dror’s instructions.

Enjoy

Microsoft Digital Literacy provides eLearning in five distinct courses:
* Computer Basics
* The Internet and the World Wide Web
* Productivity Programs
* Computer Security
* Privacy and Digital Lifestyles

Although the courses are heavily text based, useful videos and practical interactive simulation labs are also included and they can either be taken online or downloaded for offline study.

The recommended time to finish each course is 2-3 hours after which time you can take the corresponding online assessment.  There is also a Certificate Test, covering topics from all five courses, which leads to a printable personalized Digital Literacy Certificate if you pass.

Despite much of the material being based on Microsoft products, it is a very useful resource for a ‘beginners ICT’ class.

Udutu is a sophisticated online course authoring system that enables you to create highly interactive eLearning courses.

By using the mydutu tool, you can “design and implement online training and courses without any knowledge of technology“. Being able to import existing PowerPoint presentations into your new course is an added bonus.

You can carry out quite extensive authoring as explained by Udutu: “In addition to conventional animation based interactivity templates it has a unique conditional branching capability that allows you to create complex scenarios, simulations, and remedial learning situations. It is a robust multimedia platform for a corporate training and development program. It supports all major types of graphic, sound, and video formats, and will automatically optimize any multimedia for the web without third party applications“.

Interestingly, Udutu recommend a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768, although they do provide templates for 800 x 600 resolution.

Once completed, you can download the course as a zip file, which you can then easily install on your own server or copy to a CD. The course runs in a web browser.

Have a look at the ’Build Effective Online Courses‘ created by Udutu, which shows you just how a finished course works and also provides a great lesson about building effective online courses.

OpenLearn is a place where anyone can access free online learning with The Open University.

Subjects are divided into various categories including Arts and History, Business and Management, Education, Health and Lifestyle, IT and Computing, Law, Mathematics and Statistics, Modern Languages, Science and Nature, Society, Study Skills and Technology.

Living with the internet: keeping it safe is just one excellent example from the IT and Computing section.

OpenLearn also provides a ‘labspace‘ where users can reuse and remix the open education resources.

Labspace is a great place to collaborate and contribute as it “makes many different open educational resources available to you, all of which you are encouraged to take away, re-use and remix to suit your needs as an educator“.

The eLearning Guild is a “member-driven online information center and Community of Practice where anyone involved in the design, development, and management of web-based educational or instructional content (e-Learning) can identify and access resources needed to ensure that their organizations’ projects are successful”.

In fact, the eLearning Guild provides a professional peer network where members can “focus on expanding their own professional skills, knowledge, and expertise“.

At the eLearning Guild, membership is “all about members sharing with, and learning from, other members“.

Associate membership is free and provides for, among other things, access to every issue of the ‘Learning Solutions e-Magazine’, which is “packed with ideas, strategies, and techniques that you can actually use“.

Members also have access to the entire archive of over 235 past issues.

The eLearning Guild provide free ebooks packed with helpful tips, information and links to further useful sites – for members and non members alike.

The latest, published in Dec 2007, details 162 Tips and Tricks for Working with e-Learning Tools.

Other titles include, among others:

• The eLearning Guild’s Handbook of e-Learning Strategy
• 311 Tips on the MANAGEMENT of an LMS or LCMS
• 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction.

WiZiQ is a free virtual classroom tool. WiZiQ is “equipped with live audio-video communication, chat, content sharing, and session recording capabilities“. No download is required as WiZiQ works in any web browser and on any operating system.

WiZiQ also has a social networking aspect as you can communicate with other teachers and students with the same subject interests.

You can upload and share your own PowerPoint presentations as well as finding content created by other members.

Multiple choice WiZiQ tests have, recently, been added to the site.

In addition, free public sessions are offered on an ongoing basis and recorded completed sessions are available for viewing.