2009

After two exhausting years working full time and studying full time I have decided to tackle a Masters, albeit part time and beginning in Semester 2, 2009.

I am extremely fascinated with the direction flexible learning is heading, particularly in a Corporate environment. It is for this reason that I may look to undertake a Diploma of Business through my workplace parallel with my tertiary studies.

I invite anyone reading this to leave comments and email me directly as I am interested in collaborating with like minded people!

2009

The Future

If you had of asked me 2 years ago whether I'd be capable of looking into the future, I would of laughed at you. Only now through this subject have I become capable of critically looking at what is in front of me and the impact that technology in particular has on society and myself as an individual.

I believe I am now capable of looking outside the square, and I'm excited about what is out there. This subject has brought me back to my original career in IT and in particular e-learning, I'm seriously contemplating enrolling in Masters of Education specialising in ICT and I am extremely keen on making a positive impact through the idea of lifelong learning on the digital natives of the world!

The Future

Snack Learning for Professionals

Business school in all A380 classes - Fran Foo | September 16, 2008

I certainly do not hope that "Snack learning" becomes the new buzz word floating around, it sounds as though academic articles are going to be written on the back of Mars bars wrappers...

In what is an extension of what will soon be a common theme - e-learning/m-learning through technologies, Qantas have developed a system that will be integrated with the new fleet of A380s' in-flight entertainment platform.

Obviously there are some people out there - professionals who travel regularly would be interested in learning on the go. However i'd be interested to see how successful this program really is.

Bite sized e-learning is certainly something I'm interested in with the ever increasing use of blackberries/laptops and iphones - but I can't really see this taking off on an aeroplane. I would think that most people would be content with watching the latest movie, tv show, playing handheld games or sleeping when on a flight!

Not to mention the other issues of the employees not being able to switch off when travelling to other locations for work.

Snack Learning for Professionals

Phone a friend — welcome to the new face of exams

Phone a friend — welcome to the new face of exams

by Margaret Cook and Anna Patty

It's safe to say i'm fascinated by what impact technology is going to have on education, in particular it's use on young adults.

I firmly agree with Cook and Patty's view that the internet has expanded our resources and shifted power away from teachers, and some find this threatening. I for one am always interested in ways that educators are looking outside the square to conduct assessments.

They highlight that the nature of the world today is that people want information quickly, however they are quick to point out that the credibility of the information should be questioned and cited appropriately!

"What they will need to do is access information from all their sources quickly and they will need to check the reliability of their information."

Could this assessment be transferred into a work / TAFE environment where business information would often be on hand with a colleague or on the company intranet?

Phone a friend — welcome to the new face of exams

Digital futures report: the internet in Australia

http://www.cci.edu.au/sites/default/files/pbrowne/AuDigitalFutures2008.pdf

Authors: Julian Thomas, Scott Ewing, Julianne Schiessl

This report presents findings from the first survey undertaken by the Australian component of the World Internet Project. This survey is a major piece of research undertaken by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Innovation at Swinburne University’s Institute for Social Research.

This report provides an overview of our work, presenting results for each of the questions asked. We will also be publishing work that examines relationships between our key variables exploring, for example, differences between users with broadband access at home and those on dial-up connections and the differences that age, gender and education levels make to people’s use and experience of the internet.

Analysis we have already conducted shows that broadband does make a substantial difference to peoples’ use of the internet. The internet is more highly valued by those with broadband connections and they use the internet for longer and for a greater variety of purposes. Younger people have been quick to integrate the internet into their lives, they use the internet more and particularly for entertainment.

I have to say, I'm really not surprised by this article at all... it's common knowledge that Australian broadband due to the geographical make up the country is well behind the rest of the first class nations.

It therefore comes as no surprise that people who actually have access to a decent internet connection value the internet higher than those who don't. With Telstra very much the monopoly when it comes to the phone lines used for ADSL either through their private ownership of the bulk of the lines required for high speed broadband.

I therefore have to agree that broadband does make a substantial difference to peoples’ use of the internet for more people to be able to integrate the internet into their daily lives the government is going to need to come in and take a stand in Australia. Or those in the City and large regional areas will continue to enjoy the luxury, while those already struggling to stay in touch in remote communities will be stuck on dial-up and other slow connections.

Digital futures report: the internet in Australia

Google enrolled for schools email deal

http://www.theage.com.au/news/biztech/google-enrolled-for-schools-email-deal/2008/07/29/1217097291695.html

I found the article above particularly interesting when it comes to formal educational institutions, my girlfriends university recently were swapped over to Windows Live email. With it comes the obvious repercussions, that although some students may be obvlious to, she was quick to point out that she now has to deal with advertising and the other unwanted invasions that comes with having a "free" account.

"If the vendors can get students to sign up for email accounts, the hope is they will then use those accounts for life," Mr Cain said. "Students, alumni, staff and faculty all represent a highly desirable demographic that advertisers will pay top dollar to reach."

Students previously had 35 megabytes of memory on their account previously, they now have six gigabytes.... but at what price?

Google enrolled for schools email deal

Keyboard kids losing art of handwriting

Keyboard kids losing art of handwriting - by Gerard Noonan Social Issues Editor


I found this article particularly relevant moving forward, as a younger person who is no longer required to produce large amounts of writing by hand for work or for uni, I feel its particularly important that Educational Insititutions look for alternatives when it comes to exams.

Turning off Spelling, Grammar options as well as access to the internet shouldn't be something that is too hard to do for exams. Most schools have PCs and it makes sense that their should be restrictions on these PCs.

For exams that involve Essay writing or Multiple Choice PC's should become an option for those who prefer not to handwrite!

You would think having to mark thousands of exam papers would be easier if it was done electronically!

I'm not of the belief that writing is linked to thought for all people, personally I believe I have longer to think when typing than handwriting as it does not take me as long to put "pen to paper" so to speak, and thus it allows my output to match my thoughts!

Keyboard kids losing art of handwriting