Posts tagged ‘elearning’
Development Project – OceanQuest
I have not been posting on G&L for some time now and this is because I have been working on a research and development project. OceanQuest is a mini piece of game-based learning focused on creating engaging learning from relatively dry learning content. OceanQuest targets bearings in Key Stage 3 Mathematics, Ma3 (shape, space and measures). The game includes three different missions with varied tasks involving target practice, navigating between objects, giving bearings of objects, clearing sea mines and delivering supplies to islands. Below are screenshots of the missions:
I have compiled a 2 page teachers’ information pdf which contains more detail on learning objectives and the game itself. If you would like a copy please contact me. The game is password protected so please email me or comment on this post if you would like to play the game. The only requirement for the game is Flash Player 9. I have finished the first stage of development and am looking for constructive feedback or evaluations from people who work in related industries. If you are a teacher/other educator/developer or have experience with elearning and game-based learning, any feedback on the game will be very much appreciated. Educators, feel free to have students (KS3) play the game as feedback from the target audience will be extremely beneficial to the project.
I have had only positive feedback so far with people commenting on how fun and engaging it is and also on the potential they see in using the game with their students.
My email address: alex@gamingandlearning.co.uk
The Many Virtues of the Virtual Lab
Very interesting article on virtual labs and their uses in science classes with limited lab equipment:
“Thanks to rapid development in information technology, all real life situations can be simulated on your very computer screen, loaded with programs such as Java, Flash, Real media etc. With increasing number of e-learning companies and academic websites offering virtual laboratories, it is easier today than ever before, for a science teacher to use virtual lab. He simply needs to download the virtual experiment from the World Wide Web or buy it as part of an e-learning package from product manufacturers. Virtual labs can help the teacher and the taught, to a significant extent. Let us visit a few virtual classrooms.”
Author: P.R. Guruprasad, TechLearning, 1st April 2008
Full article available here.
Spotlight: Free Science Resources Online
Looking for ways to encourage student interest in science? These authoritative sites arm teachers not only with free multimedia, projects, and other deep resources, but also lesson plans and standards-aligned, curriculum-focused materials that will help you make the most of these educational and entertaining tools.
1. MIT OpenCourseWare: Free Education for All
MIT’s OpenCourseWare for Secondary Education (OCW SE), also known as Highlights for High School, is the first attempt on MIT’s part to bring OCW to secondary education and the first step in a broader plan for secondary education that has been in development since 2006.
Author: Dave Nagel, T.H.E. Journal, 5th April 2008
Full article available here.
RM INFORM Conference
Bristol
A free one-day conference aimed at headteachers, principals, senior managers and e-learning directors in secondary schools and colleges, providing an opportunity to gather ideas and to share experience and knowledge with friends, colleagues and educational experts. The theme this year is Partnerships for Learning.
www.rm.com/Secondary/Events/Article.asp?cref=MCET778941
Author: FutureLab
See article here.
4th Annual Innovations in e-Learning Symposium (June 3,4,5)
to be held on June 3, 4 & 5, 2008 in the Johnson Center on the Fairfax Campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.The topics for this year’s symposium are:
* Mobile Learning and Gaming
* Web 2.0 and Cyber-infrastructure
* Innovation Design and Research Partnerships
* Collaboration in a Virtual World
Author: Mark Oehlert, e-Clippings Blog, 18th March 2008
Full article available here.
CSH Lab Biology Animation Library
The good folks at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory provide a number of helpful and well-designed educational materials on their site, and this Biology Animation Library is a real find. Visitors to the site can view one of a dozen animations offered here, and they can also download them for their own use. The animations include a brief overview of cloning, several on DNA, gel electrophoresis, and polymerase chain reaction. One can imagine that utilizing these animations in a genetics classroom would be quite easy, and students could even use these materials as a way to review basic genetic concepts. The site is rounded out by a section on the left-hand side that contains links to other educational resources created by experts at the Dolan DNA Research Center.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2008 http://scout.wisc.edu/
Author: Ray Schroeder, Educational Technology Blog, 15th March 2008
Critical Thinking
WebTeaching critical thinking can be difficult, and it is nice to know that Professors Joe Lau and Jonathan Chan at the University of Hong Kong have created this site to help both teachers and students in this endeavor. Working with a grant from the government of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee, the two have created this website to provide access to over 100 free online tutorials on critical thinking, logic, scientific reasoning, and creativity.
Author: Ray Schroeder, Educational Technology Blog, 7th March 2008
“This educational web site provides over 100 free online tutorials on critical thinking, logic, scientific reasoning, creativity, and other aspects of thinking skills. Our online tutorials have been used by universities, community colleges, and high schools across the world.”
Learning Technologies Exhibition – Jan 2008
I attended the Learning Technologies Exhibition in London which took place on Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st January. See more about the event here, although they are now in the process of updating the content for 2009.
It was quite an informative experience as it gave me first hand insight into the current business side of learning and technology. Most exhibitors were promoting their tools and methods for creating and distributing effective solutions for in-house training. There was a lot of information about LMSs and LCMSs (Learning Management Systems and Learning Content Management Systems) along with SCORM applications. A couple of exhibitors had recently introduced serious games as training tools, and one company in particular, Gatlin Education, are launching their series of serious games tailored for school students of business related subjects. Gillian Duncan, their representative, said that their serious games series should be on their portal by mid February.
I also attended a couple of the free seminars there which mainly communicated the importance of extending elearning to web 2.0 technologies and showcased the speaking company’s work.
SMART Technologies were also there and they were showing off their new SMART boards. I watched one of their demonstrations and was quite impressed with the intuitive interaction.
Sponge UK were there who are a Plymouth-based elearning company. They were one of the only companies who really thought about how to stand out from the crowd, not with their stand but with their business cards. They knew how to differentiate themselves and I thought they did this really well and in a fun way. Some of the larger companies tried to dazzle with their expensive freebies, but I found that the companies who were more innovative and smart about it were the companies whose names stuck in my head.
One stand that really interested me with their current work was e-doceo and edu4 who actually work together to create what they call multimedia classrooms. e-doceo develop the software tools and edu4 create the furniture and classrooms within which to run the software. I talked to one of the representatives there and he took me through all of the different software tools they have developed for creating and delivering engaging elearning. It’s all Flash based but it is executed to a very high standard. The tools are quite intuitive and easy to use to create bespoke virtual learning situations for delivery in the classroom.
All in all it was a very informative trip.
Elluminate Builds Bridge to Moodle
Collaborative technology developer Elluminate has brought its Live! virtual classroom software to the Moodle platform. The company released a piece of software Tuesday called Elluminate Bridge for Moodle, which is designed to integrate Live! into the open-source learning management system.
Elluminate Live! is an e-learning, conferencing, and online collaboration tool designed for use in education, providing support for a variety of learning management systems, including Blackboard, Moodle, Sakai, WebCT, and eCollege. It includes features like note taking, two-way interactive video (up to 640 x 480), archiving and automatic indexing of e-learning sessions, various tools for teachers (timers, pop-up announcements, sorting of participants by hand raising, etc.), whiteboarding, and various other collaboration tools.
Elluminate Bridge for Moodle, which itself is being released as open source, is designed to “seamlessly add synchronous distance learning and collaboration into coursework.” Built on the Elluminate Bridge Toolkit, it also supports communications between Live! installations running on disparate platforms.
For K-12 institutions, Bridge for Moodle is now being included in Elluminate’s free Live! Lite promotion, which allows schools to use Live! Lite Edition itself free for one year. The software is similar to the full version of Live!, providing a variety of collaborative technologies, including chat, audio, whiteboard sharing, moderator tools, and other features.
Moodle is one of the most popular learning management systems out there. The open-source LMS, as of this writing, had nearly 16.7 million users participating in nearly 1.7 million courses at more than 38,000 registered sites, according to Moodle’s published statistics.
As we previously reported, Elluminate is also bringing its Live! collaboration suite to the Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment, an open-source learning management system. The move is part of a new alliance with Unicon, a company that specializes in providing support and services for open-source software to education. Sakai integration is expected to be completed and available for the public in spring 2008.
Bridge for Moodle is available for download now
Author: Dave Nagel, T.H.E. Journal,
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