Distance learning: A whole new world of studyingFrom video marking to Second Life, technology is transforming options for online students
By Lucy TobinTHE GUARDIAN, LONDON Saturday, Apr 25, 2009, Page 9
There’s not a red pen in sight when Russell Stannard marks his master’s students’ essays — but it’s not because the students never make mistakes. Stannard doesn’t use a pen, or even paper, to give his students feedback. Instead — and in keeping with his role as principal lecturer in multimedia and information and communication technology — he turns on his computer, records himself marking the work onscreen, then e-mails his students the video.
When students open the video, they can hear Stannard’s voice commentary as well as watch him going through the process of marking. The resulting feedback is more comprehensive than the more conventional notes scrawled in the margin, and Stannard, who works at the University of Westminster in London, now believes it has the potential to revolutionize distance learning.“It started when I began to realize how useful technology can be for teaching,” he says. “I wanted to help other teachers, as well as general computer users, to learn how to use tools like podcasting, PowerPoint and BlackBoard, software that a lot of schools and universities use to allow teachers to provide course material and communicate with students online.”So he set up a site to teach people how to use the technology, providing simple, video tutorials where users watch Stannard’s mouse pointing out how to use the software, with his voice providing constant commentary. He used the screen-videoing software Camtasia, and the site rapidly took off: It now receives more than 10,000 hits a month.Then he started considering integrating the teaching style into his own university work. “I was mainly teaching students on master’s courses in media and technology, and I realized that while I was talking about the benefits of new technology, I should be making the most of the opportunity to use it,” Stannard says. “That’s when I had the idea of video marking. It was immediately well received. Students receive both aural and visual feedback — and while we always talk about different learning styles, there are also benefits to receiving feedback in different ways.”Stannard says the technology is particularly useful for dyslexic students, who appreciate the spoken commentary, and students learning English as a foreign language. “I started my teaching career in language learning, so I quickly realized that students learning English would benefit from video marking. They can replay the videos as many times as they like and learn more about reasons for their mistakes,” he says. Stannard also believes video marking is “perfect” for distance-learning students. “It brings them much closer to the teacher,” he says. “They can listen, see and understand how the teacher is marking their piece, why specific comments have been made, and so on.”The technology is already being used for informal distance learning, as Stannard uploads the videos he makes for his lectures at Westminster to multimedia trainingvideos.com. Now 60,000 people a month view the videos.Online marking is part of a package of new technology that is transforming the face of distance education, from postal services-reliant correspondence courses to online, interactive learning. This is clearly evident on Second Life, the virtual world where users create personalized avatars to interact, which is home to scores of UK universities, with some teaching entire distance-learning modules through the site. Kingston University in southwest London has developed a virtual courtroom for law students to practice on the site, while e-learning specialists at St George’s, University of London, have come up with a program code enabling Second Life users to create training scenarios.One sees paramedic students enter Second Life to attend emergency scenarios. The characters have to assess and treat patients by speaking to them, checking their pulse, dressing wounds and administering drugs. They have to transport the patient into the ambulance and to the hospital, and then write handover notes, which are e-mailed to their real-life tutor for feedback.While the technology is currently being used in-house at St George’s, the developers have made the code available for other universities or individuals. The code, Pivote, can be freely downloaded from Google Code, where techies can then use it to create virtual worlds to run other courses.Terry Poulton, head of the Second Life-academia link-up at the university, says the code has potential applications beyond single disciplines.“The technology could enhance any course with a focus on solving real-life problems, such as architecture, law, or engineering,” he says. “It could also be useful for professional development, particularly when preparing staff for crisis situations that they do not often face.”Other academics are already using new technology to make university courses more accessible to working professionals. At Bournemouth University in southern England, a part-time master’s in creative media practice, launched in 2005, is run entirely online. Recruits are all working people who want to undertake further study but cannot commit to a face-to-face course. The students — more than a third of whom are international, living in South Africa, Mexico, New York and Finland — use blogs, podcasts and Skype to study. The first time the students and their tutors meet is normally at graduation.Jon Wardle, associate dean of the media school at Bournemouth, says the course represents a changing mood in academia. “Higher education has recognized the need to provide opportunities for lifelong learning for a long time, but the early work in the area was poor. Now, because of sites like YouTube, Facebook and Skype, these courses are really able to hit the spot and meet learner needs,” he says.“Lecturers and students are both starting to understand that online learning doesn’t have to be a poor alternative to traditional campus-based courses. The days of the very bad, old-school correspondence courses are over. Now the future is about trying to discover new pedagogies which might not work face-to-face, but
By Lucy TobinTHE GUARDIAN, LONDON Saturday, Apr 25, 2009, Page 9
There’s not a red pen in sight when Russell Stannard marks his master’s students’ essays — but it’s not because the students never make mistakes. Stannard doesn’t use a pen, or even paper, to give his students feedback. Instead — and in keeping with his role as principal lecturer in multimedia and information and communication technology — he turns on his computer, records himself marking the work onscreen, then e-mails his students the video.
When students open the video, they can hear Stannard’s voice commentary as well as watch him going through the process of marking. The resulting feedback is more comprehensive than the more conventional notes scrawled in the margin, and Stannard, who works at the University of Westminster in London, now believes it has the potential to revolutionize distance learning.“It started when I began to realize how useful technology can be for teaching,” he says. “I wanted to help other teachers, as well as general computer users, to learn how to use tools like podcasting, PowerPoint and BlackBoard, software that a lot of schools and universities use to allow teachers to provide course material and communicate with students online.”So he set up a site to teach people how to use the technology, providing simple, video tutorials where users watch Stannard’s mouse pointing out how to use the software, with his voice providing constant commentary. He used the screen-videoing software Camtasia, and the site rapidly took off: It now receives more than 10,000 hits a month.Then he started considering integrating the teaching style into his own university work. “I was mainly teaching students on master’s courses in media and technology, and I realized that while I was talking about the benefits of new technology, I should be making the most of the opportunity to use it,” Stannard says. “That’s when I had the idea of video marking. It was immediately well received. Students receive both aural and visual feedback — and while we always talk about different learning styles, there are also benefits to receiving feedback in different ways.”Stannard says the technology is particularly useful for dyslexic students, who appreciate the spoken commentary, and students learning English as a foreign language. “I started my teaching career in language learning, so I quickly realized that students learning English would benefit from video marking. They can replay the videos as many times as they like and learn more about reasons for their mistakes,” he says. Stannard also believes video marking is “perfect” for distance-learning students. “It brings them much closer to the teacher,” he says. “They can listen, see and understand how the teacher is marking their piece, why specific comments have been made, and so on.”The technology is already being used for informal distance learning, as Stannard uploads the videos he makes for his lectures at Westminster to multimedia trainingvideos.com. Now 60,000 people a month view the videos.Online marking is part of a package of new technology that is transforming the face of distance education, from postal services-reliant correspondence courses to online, interactive learning. This is clearly evident on Second Life, the virtual world where users create personalized avatars to interact, which is home to scores of UK universities, with some teaching entire distance-learning modules through the site. Kingston University in southwest London has developed a virtual courtroom for law students to practice on the site, while e-learning specialists at St George’s, University of London, have come up with a program code enabling Second Life users to create training scenarios.One sees paramedic students enter Second Life to attend emergency scenarios. The characters have to assess and treat patients by speaking to them, checking their pulse, dressing wounds and administering drugs. They have to transport the patient into the ambulance and to the hospital, and then write handover notes, which are e-mailed to their real-life tutor for feedback.While the technology is currently being used in-house at St George’s, the developers have made the code available for other universities or individuals. The code, Pivote, can be freely downloaded from Google Code, where techies can then use it to create virtual worlds to run other courses.Terry Poulton, head of the Second Life-academia link-up at the university, says the code has potential applications beyond single disciplines.“The technology could enhance any course with a focus on solving real-life problems, such as architecture, law, or engineering,” he says. “It could also be useful for professional development, particularly when preparing staff for crisis situations that they do not often face.”Other academics are already using new technology to make university courses more accessible to working professionals. At Bournemouth University in southern England, a part-time master’s in creative media practice, launched in 2005, is run entirely online. Recruits are all working people who want to undertake further study but cannot commit to a face-to-face course. The students — more than a third of whom are international, living in South Africa, Mexico, New York and Finland — use blogs, podcasts and Skype to study. The first time the students and their tutors meet is normally at graduation.Jon Wardle, associate dean of the media school at Bournemouth, says the course represents a changing mood in academia. “Higher education has recognized the need to provide opportunities for lifelong learning for a long time, but the early work in the area was poor. Now, because of sites like YouTube, Facebook and Skype, these courses are really able to hit the spot and meet learner needs,” he says.“Lecturers and students are both starting to understand that online learning doesn’t have to be a poor alternative to traditional campus-based courses. The days of the very bad, old-school correspondence courses are over. Now the future is about trying to discover new pedagogies which might not work face-to-face, but
work wonderfully online,” he says. This story has been viewed 541 times
ليس هناك في الأفق الأحمر القلم عندما يصحح راسل مقالات طلابه -- هذا ليس لان الطلاب لم يخطئوا.ولكن راسل لا يستخدم القلم ، أو حتى ورقة ، ويقدم كل ما لديه ردود فعل الطلبة. بدلا -- وتمشيا مع الدور الرئيسي للمحاضر في مجال الوسائط المتعددة وتكنولوجيا المعلومات والاتصالات -- وهو ينتقل على جهاز الكمبيوتر ، وسجلات العلامات نفسه عمل على الشاشة ، وبعد ذلك يراسل طلابه عن طريق البريد الإلكتروني والفيديو عندما يفتح طلاب فيديو ، يمكنهم سماع صوت التعليق ، فضلا عن مشاهدة تنقله خلال عملية وضع العلامات. ردود الفعل الناتجة تكون اشمل من الطرق التقليدية ويشير راسل، الذي يعمل في جامعة وستمنستر في لندن ، ويعتقد الآن أنها تنطوي على إمكانية إحداث ثورة في التعلم
فقد بدأت عندما بدأ الناس يدركون مدى الفائدة التي يمكن لتكنولوجيا التعليم ". "كنت أرغب في مساعدة الآخرين والمدرسين ، وكذلك عامة مستخدمي الكمبيوتر ، وتعلم كيفية استخدام أدوات مثل podcasting ، PowerPoint واللوحة ، والبرمجيات أن الكثير من المدارس والجامعات للسماح للمعلمين استخدامها لتوفير مواد الدورات والتواصل مع الطلاب على الانترنت
وقال "اذا كان انشاء موقع لتعليم الناس كيفية استخدام التكنولوجيا وتوفير بسيطة دروس الفيديو حيث المستخدمين مشاهدة مؤشره مشيرا الي كيفية استخدام البرمجيات ، مع صوته باستمرار تقديم التعليق. استخدم شاشة - videoing برمجيات Camtasia ، استخدم التعليم عن بعد اساسا لتدريس طلاب الماجستير في مجال وسائل الاعلام والتكنولوجيا ، وتأكد لي أنه في حين أن الأول كان يتحدث عن فوائد التكنولوجيا الجديدة ، وأرجو أن الاستفادة القصوى من الفرصة لاستخدامها "Stannard. واضاف "هذا إذا كان لي فكرة الفيديو العلامات. كان استقبالا حسنا فور ان يتلقى الطلاب التغية اراجعة سمعيا وبصريا علي حد سواء -- وبينما نحن دائما نتكلم عن أساليب التعلم المختلفة ، وهناك أيضا فوائد لتلقي ردود الفعل بطرق مختلفة. "وتقول راسل التكنولوجيا dyslexic مفيدة بشكل خاص للطلاب ، الذين تحدثوا عن تقديرنا التعليق ، وتعلم الطلبة اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية
"كنت قد بدأت مزاولة مهنة التدريس في تعليم اللغة ، ولذلك سرعان ما ادركنا ان الطلاب للتعلم الانجليزية سوف تستفيد من العلامات الفيديو. تستطيع اعادتها الفيديو عدة مرات ، ويحبون معرفة المزيد عن أسباب أخطائهم ". كما يعتقد راسل الفيديو العلامات "مثالي"للتعلم عن بعد
لانه يجعلهم اقرب الي معلمهم وقال انه "يمكنهم الاستماع ، وفهم كيفية رؤية المعلم العلامات على القطعة ، لماذا التعليقات المحددة التي قدمت ، وما إلى ذلك
فقد بدأت عندما بدأ الناس يدركون مدى الفائدة التي يمكن لتكنولوجيا التعليم ". "كنت أرغب في مساعدة الآخرين والمدرسين ، وكذلك عامة مستخدمي الكمبيوتر ، وتعلم كيفية استخدام أدوات مثل podcasting ، PowerPoint واللوحة ، والبرمجيات أن الكثير من المدارس والجامعات للسماح للمعلمين استخدامها لتوفير مواد الدورات والتواصل مع الطلاب على الانترنت
وقال "اذا كان انشاء موقع لتعليم الناس كيفية استخدام التكنولوجيا وتوفير بسيطة دروس الفيديو حيث المستخدمين مشاهدة مؤشره مشيرا الي كيفية استخدام البرمجيات ، مع صوته باستمرار تقديم التعليق. استخدم شاشة - videoing برمجيات Camtasia ، استخدم التعليم عن بعد اساسا لتدريس طلاب الماجستير في مجال وسائل الاعلام والتكنولوجيا ، وتأكد لي أنه في حين أن الأول كان يتحدث عن فوائد التكنولوجيا الجديدة ، وأرجو أن الاستفادة القصوى من الفرصة لاستخدامها "Stannard. واضاف "هذا إذا كان لي فكرة الفيديو العلامات. كان استقبالا حسنا فور ان يتلقى الطلاب التغية اراجعة سمعيا وبصريا علي حد سواء -- وبينما نحن دائما نتكلم عن أساليب التعلم المختلفة ، وهناك أيضا فوائد لتلقي ردود الفعل بطرق مختلفة. "وتقول راسل التكنولوجيا dyslexic مفيدة بشكل خاص للطلاب ، الذين تحدثوا عن تقديرنا التعليق ، وتعلم الطلبة اللغة الإنجليزية كلغة أجنبية
"كنت قد بدأت مزاولة مهنة التدريس في تعليم اللغة ، ولذلك سرعان ما ادركنا ان الطلاب للتعلم الانجليزية سوف تستفيد من العلامات الفيديو. تستطيع اعادتها الفيديو عدة مرات ، ويحبون معرفة المزيد عن أسباب أخطائهم ". كما يعتقد راسل الفيديو العلامات "مثالي"للتعلم عن بعد
لانه يجعلهم اقرب الي معلمهم وقال انه "يمكنهم الاستماع ، وفهم كيفية رؤية المعلم العلامات على القطعة ، لماذا التعليقات المحددة التي قدمت ، وما إلى ذلك
مي عادل عبد الستار،أسماء كمال أحمد
