Eddie\’s Bloggage –>

Today, I spent  a great deal of time practicing of my speech and my presentation for tomorrow. After yesterday’s meeting, I was able to learn and understand the flow on which we would conduct this webinar. There may be a few problems however, one in particular is when we want to demonstrate the video feed. I’m not really sure how to do it but may ask the teacher for some assistance when it comes for time to present.

I have gone through all the things I need to run through and everythings seems to be in working order. Another thing that I have also done today was browse through a variety of web sites and have noticed that there are a number of organisations who use WebEx to conduct their webinars. So performing this webinar tomorrow via WebEx seems to be a viable decision in which will allow participants in the classroom to learn with both theoretical and practical implications.

Another thing to consider is the group wiki. So far it looks ok, but it does need a few more editing. We have come up with a few good examples from each group member. At this point in time, we need to focus on the quality of the wiki as the presentation and wiki are both worth 15% each.

Today after we had finish class for today, one of my group members Jess and I met up after class to touch up on our presentation on our topic Synchronous Technology. We decided that since the main objective of the presentation was to focus on the technology itself rather than the various organisations who use or implement this piece of technology, that it would be a wise decision that we would solely put great emphasis on webinars.

 In conducting our presentation to the class, we decided that as a group, it would be feasable for two people to conduct the presentation and that we would do this through a webinar. I think that this would be a great opportunity for learners in the classroom to understand and learn more about the technology since not many have experienced being apart of one. Large corporate companies are those that usually conduct these webinars and this may be because they may have some branches in different countries.

Communicating via webinars has seem to be very cost effective and relatively convenient for anybody that uses it. I think that as organisations grow, they need to find different types of technologies they can use to further develop its communication with its various stakeholders. And synchronous (interactive and real time) technology has seem to bring a significant role in achieving this.

Some of the things that we will be discussing are what is a webinar? what are some of the features? advantages and disadvantages? and also some background information on how they can be used as the future piece of technology for organisations. Practicing the presentation today was very tiring and long. We had to fix a few parts of the presenation slides that would be used aliigned with the webinar. Cutting some parts of the presenation was also something we did because it was a long presentation when we timed it.

 At the moment, it looks very promising and I can see that the presenation will lead to a great success. Our presentation is in two days time so it is great to see that my group has stepped up in attempting to finish this earlier so that we can have extra time in practicing our presentation and fixing any parts of our wikis to its final stage.

Today was spent on creating and fixing up our webinar. We did a pretty good job at creating it. Now we got to do now is exectute it. What we need is practice so I think in the next few days, there may possibly be a meeting on practicing it.

It shoud be fun. Can’t wait. It will be something different but I am for the challenge.

After we have finished drafting our wikis for our group work, we needed to work on our presentation. It has been frustrating sometimes because we initially were going to do a powerpoint presentation but now we are going one step ahead by actually doing a webinar.

This is going to pretty challenging. But I think we can do it. I’ve raised my hand in being a volunteer do conduct one of these presentations and I think the other will be Jess. The rest of the group don’t seem to keen on demonstrating our technology through a practical basis. But I think it is important that since we already have the foundation of the theoretical side, we need to know the practicality of the technoligy and the various ways that organsations can use them for learning purposes.

At the moment, I have been thinking about how technology has played a major role in organisations. After browsing on a few web sites and researching on the various educational technologies, it became apparent how they incorporate these tools in order to enhance the process and flow of communication. This has also shown that technology has become the future and recently found a web site that demonstrates this on www.allbusiness.com.

In some of the pages of the web site, especially in focus with the technical side, it emphasises that businesses all around the world are making investments in technology and doing things such as purchasing software, computers, networking tools and other components necessary to stay current and sustain a competitive advantage.

Whilst many people may have heard about some organisations using technology to their advantage, it seems that they do not know in particular the reason as to ‘why’ they would implement such a strategy. Well, the answer is simple after further investigation. In a fiercely competitive market, businesses need not to look at technologies as luxury and nessesity items to give that corporate image but meet the prerequisites of enabling the organisation to work smarter, faster and better. There is no doubt that making efficient and effective technology purchases requires a long term outlook, an awareness of the investment objectives and the expected return.

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During the past few weeks, I have taken up some time on doing more of my Modules that I need to do. It has been pretty daunting but the work needs to get done or it will pile up sooner or later.

I have been doing a lot of research recenly in relation to learning theories. In a nut shell, they are:

Behaviourist approach - attempted to study behaviour and learning from a scientific approach – only observable and measurable behaviours are reliable. They explain human behaviour in terms of cause and effect – therefore learning is a modification of behaviour by application of stimuli, shaping of responses and the provision of reinforcement. Learning is demonstrated in the response or behaviour of the learner.

Cognitive approach - emphasize the role of experience, the development of meaning, and the use of problem-solving and insight as the sources of learning. Each person will behave and learn in terms of what is real for them. Learning is therefore based on the re-organisation of experiences into systematic and meaningful patterns that lead to problem-solving and insight.

The Humanist approach – developed from the Cognitive but focuses on experiential learning and the assumption that the individual is ever seeking greater personal adequacy, self-esteem and self-actualisation. Humanists emphasise the individual’s innate need to achieve personal worth, dignity and creativity and believe a better society will evolve by nurturing these qualities.

Constructivist approach – Bruner (1966) based his theory on learning by discovery – information should be  organised in a spiral manner that allows the learner to re-arrange and re-assemble content to create new insights. According to Bruner, discovery and meaningful learning enhances recall and transfer of learning. The main objective is to build upon knowledge the learner already has.

During my dinner break, I was also wastching some tv when I saw something that caught my attention. I was CSI NY (Crime Scene Investigation New York) and on this paricular episode, there was the use Second Life depicted into the show. The show was about how a serial killer was using the virtual world using Second Life to show his victims in his hall of fame. The hall of fame was a corridor which led to people who represented others from the real world but in a dead state.

It demonstrated that those that were killed in real life were also dead in the virtual world. From viewing the show, I can relate this to another post I had had done a few weeks ago in relation to virtual worlds. This also backs up my argument that it can be used innapproriately for example in this scenario showing murder victims. Another aspect that can be seen from this was that the virtual world was used as a tool as a surrogate killer. The killer could be found in the virtual world but was difficult to find in the real word. Because of this, the investigators couldn’t capture the killer easily even though there were clues that hid behind Second Life.

I think that another way of seeing this was how using some technologogical tools can be used unethically resulting from dangerous behaviours. It has also been used as a manipulation tool and how messages can be sent without the use of face to face interaction. I learnt a lot from this program and this made me more interested into the learning more about issues and problems that arise when technology is used unethically.

It is now the beginning of the holidays. It has been such a crazy journey so far. With the assignments that were due the last few weeks before holidays has been ridiculous but I have successfully managed to do it on time.

During these holidays, I will be working a lot. Its good because I will make a lot of money during the holiday but the bad thing is that it may affect my studies and my time that I may have in doing some parts of my upcoming assignment. This has affected me in may ways in the past. But through my e-learning studies, I have learnt how to use several technologies to enhance my learning experience. For example, I can video conference with talk on MSN messenger which is instantanous chatting via the internet. This has been an effective tool that not develops your typing skills and the fact that its free, but its all done in real time. Unlike the telephone. We can send documents, pictures and pretty much anything to one another with no cost involved.

Technology has gone a long way since the beginning when it was first introduced. For now, I will just be doing a lot of reading so that I can start on the next assignment in due time without being rushed on strict deadlines. I think I should start going over all over it again.

But I will still enjoy my holiday. After holidays are holy days.

Today during class, there were two presentations that were conducted in front of the class. The presentations were M-learning which is the ability to learn anywhere at anytime without a permanent physical connection to cable networks. The other is blogs, wikis and e-portfolios. These are self publishing technologies that can be used in an educational setting to assist learners to develop their skills and knowledge.

Both presentations were done very well and thorough. I found these presentation very helpful as it provided me an insight as to how other organsations can use these different types of technologies and implement them into their system. Some organisations focus on certain technologies and this is because they believe it is more beneficial for them in providing continual communication and flow.

 Next two weeks will be mid semester holidays. I don’t think it will be holidays for me as I need a lot of work for assignments and work at my part time job. Maybe I can ask my current workplace on what types of technologies they use to efficiently improve on the flow of the organisation. Technology plays a major part in organisations and I think it will be used a lot in a busy restaurant such as using blogs for reflection on how the day was in regards to money made, problems, accidents etc. This can be used so that it can prevent similar issues arising in the long run.

I need to work more into our technology which is synchronous technology. My group’s presentation is first week back of the semester break so there is quite abit or preparation to do such as fixing up the wikispace and the presentation. Hopefully, everything should be up and running with minor dramas. I am ready for the challenge…

I just want to reflect on a previous class in which we merged with another class where by we learned more about Second Life and virtual worlds. Virtual worlds is another topic that another group are doing and later presentating, but it was beneficial to see first hand and have a brief background in regards to virtual worlds. Firstly, virtual worlds is an area or world that is encompassed through technology that can be used as an educational or learning setting. Second Life has been a useful learning tool and I remember a few students from last year in conducting their short course and reviewing its relevance and usefulness.

Reviewing from my perspective, it seems that it can be a fun and intersactive way to learn. However, one thing I find as a major disadvantage is the limitation of face to face intersction. All the interaction done is virtually. This can also mean that it might be the person that you think it is on the other side. one example that demonstrated this was when my friend from class signed up and became apart of the virtual world. He was communicating with others in the world but no one knew who he was or how he got there. I found that amusing but at the same time thinking about the protection from individuals.

Overall, it was fascinating so learn about virtual worlds. However, I’m not really a fan of it. I might use it in the future but I prefer other modes of technologies as I personally feel it provides a better insight into learning than virtual worlds. In saying this, I can see the relevance to learning but there may be some limitations that may affect the learning experience and the outcome or intended results.