The Moodle Journal chronicles using podcasts, streaming, downloads, training, metadata, scorm, lessons, quizzes, forums, chat, journals, LAMS, Mahara and assignments in the deployment of the Moodle vle as part of our e-learning programme here at College.
Monday, December 17, 2012
eBook Student Survey
I guess it when it comes to planning and delivering a course
using a technology platform such as Moodle, it does become part of normal practice
to introduce new resources simply by supplying a suitable link and this year
one of these links was to eBooks. So I was more than an little fascinated by
report from edudemic.com '10 Surprising Facts About Students Using E-Textbooks’
From a survey by eCampus.com. It would seem that not surprisingly some 98% of
students own a digital device, but maybe that’s a bit too general, but putting this
aside a surprising 73% of those students surveyed said ‘they would not be able
to study without technology!’ When asked however why they chose eBooks almost
half, 48% cited cost, not any kind of techno leverage, a little surprising I
felt. So is there a perceived advantage academically in using eBooks? Well
around two thirds of those surveyed felt there was an associated saving in time
during the typical semester, however only 17% felt that this amounted to more
than 3 hours, and with only 2% of students reporting that they usedmobile device in this role, for me seems
to put a little question mark on some of those assumptions I keep
coming across surrounding mLearning. When the students were asked if they
would consider purchasing an eTextbook in the next semester 54% said maybe with
only 38% confirming with a definite yes. From my own reading of the
infographic, I must confess it does generate some questions, not least that while
I agree eGooks are cheaper, a physical book can be re-sold, whereas the DRM (Digital
Rights Management) on eBooks will almost certainly prevent this. What do you think, please feel free to comment.
I you are interested in getting started with infographics and
I must say I do really enjoy the way they are cable to communicate the facts, then
I came across a really nice video tutorial the other day from Linda Braun. The video,
which lasts a little under 15 minutes Lynda shows how you can make an infographic
using Visualy.ly well worth a view I felt.
I don't know much about the current psychographic details of college students in the US, but I had taught at universities and schools in Asia. The (American) publishers do provide cheaper versions of their bounded textbooks here, much cheaper than what I would have bought if I were back in grad school in the US. Here, even at higher end private institutions, less than 20% of the students have access to higher end cell phones that could read e-books. Those with portable computers are not common, and most wouldn't bring these devices to school or colleges. They'd use them at home. So class activities requiring access to the textbook are not possible for those who would have bought e-books. From an educator's perspective, I'd say students should buy whatever version that they can easily access the most to study the material. Here it does not equal e-books.
Welcome to the Moodle Journal
Movies on the web. Below you will find a selection of Moodle and related eLearning video tutorials currently available on
the web. So please select an option and be sure to have popups enabled on your browser, and enjoy.
Moodle is a CMS or Course Management System, a software package designed to facilitate the creation and delivery of
online courses. You will come across such e-learning systems referred to as an LMS (Learning
Management Systems) and more commonly now as a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment). Moodle is Open Source, this means you are
free to download, use, modify and even distribute under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Visit the moodle shop at
VLE Tools
Audacity is a freeware audio editor that is
ideally suited for producing podcasts.
CamStudio from Macromedia is the easiest way
to create interactive demonstrations and software simulations in Flash format, and includes visible and audible mouse
movements.
CourseGenie is a tool that will help you to
take course material in Word format and efficiently transform it into a dynamic online course.
Just give EclipseCrossword a list of words
and clues, and it does the rest. In seconds, you'll have a crossword puzzle with just the words you want.
Doppler is a podcast aggregator thats small
and easy to use.
RealProducer Helix Basic is perfect for
users who want to create quality webcasts, on demand audio and video and synchronised media.
Hot Potatoes is a suite of tools that allow
you to develop various quiz type exercises using a GUI interface, the output files can be run as webpages or imported into a
VLE.
Lame is a plug-in for the Audacity audio
editor that will facilitate saving output in MP3 format.
Moodle is an Open source VLE designed to
facilitate the creation and delivery of online courses.
Pageflip is an open source Macromedia Flash
page turning book simulation that is ideal for small eBook projects.
A superb little application for interactive
white board work, allows students to drag statements, words, definitions to appropriate images, features scoring.
An add-on tool for MS Office PowerPoint 2003
lets you take your PowerPoint slides and synchronize them with audio and video
An open source JISC funded project (X4L
strand B) developing tools such as content packaging,Learning Technology and viewers to ADL and IMS Interoperability
specifications.
Skype is a little program for making free
calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It’s free and easy to download and use, and works with most
computers.
ThinkLink is a free web based mind-mapping
tool.
A web based interactive white board
Windows Encoder ia a powerful production
tool
for converting both live and prerecorded audio and video into Windows Media files or streams.
Wink is a Tutorial and Presentation
package,aimed at generating tutorials through screen capture incorporating callout boxes, buttons, titles etc..
A freeware Windows Podcast aggregator, that features a GUI interface and the ability to present Podcasts in realtime using streaming technology.
Barryw650
1 Comments:
I don't know much about the current psychographic details of college students in the US, but I had taught at universities and schools in Asia. The (American) publishers do provide cheaper versions of their bounded textbooks here, much cheaper than what I would have bought if I were back in grad school in the US. Here, even at higher end private institutions, less than 20% of the students have access to higher end cell phones that could read e-books. Those with portable computers are not common, and most wouldn't bring these devices to school or colleges. They'd use them at home. So class activities requiring access to the textbook are not possible for those who would have bought e-books. From an educator's perspective, I'd say students should buy whatever version that they can easily access the most to study the material. Here it does not equal e-books.
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