Blog #2 – Session 2 – Learning Resources & Technologies

It is yet another insightful session. Let’s share and reflect!

As new learning resources and technologies are available, the way we teach, learn and assess are also changing. Whether the changes are for the better depends on the educators’ maximal utilization of the available learning tools and resources. Indeed, the onus is on us. We are educators as much as learners in our pursuit of greatness. We need to be creative. Innovate learning environment that are engaging, interactive, relevant, flexible, personal and profound. Importantly, our knowledge and skills in ICT need to stay updated and current.

There are scores of digital tools and media resources that are available. Technology and media although often used interchangeably, have distinct definitions (Bates, 2019). In education, technologies are basically tools that can be used to teach, learn and assess. While media is an act of creation of content and/or communication, that which intermediates or interprets (Bates, 2019). In essence, they can be used for communication, search, collaboration, creation, assessment and for development. And what’s up with the social media? Its use among young people especially is on the rampant. I definitely need to find a way to utilize the various social platforms for teaching and learning.

Bates (2019) pointed out that education media are best used in combination. Bates identified six key building blocks of media; face-to-face teaching, text, graphics, audio, video and computing (i.e. animation, simulations and virtual reality). These are very helpful. I will work to ensure that the social, cognitive and teaching presence are maximized with the use of various multimedia platforms. I realized that, using just an audio is ineffective. I need to make a mix that suits well my students, and the context to which we operate. After all, not all digital tools and media resources works the same. There are some which have better features than others. Some tools which appeal to certain group of learners won’t be to others. Hence, finding the right combination of tools that can be used to suit diverse student needs is essential. Other aspect of the media such as broadcast vs communicative; and synchronous (live) vs asynchronous (recorded) are important to consider while creating an online learning environment.

With that ins mind, I am putting together some ideas for my course. First, I have discovered a very useful broadcaster tool for my lectures. Open broadcaster software (OBS) is a free open source software that I can use to record and live stream my lectures. Unlike the in-built recording feature of Microsoft PPT and other paid software, OBS has a robust feature set. It is easy to use and is free. It features includes high-performance real-time video/audio capturing and mixing. One can create scenes from multiple sources – window captures, images, text, videos, browser windows, webcams and more. In this software, I can set up unlimited number of scenes which I can switch back and forth seamlessly via custom transitions. Indeed, its discovery is a great deal for me! I will use it to record and livestream hybrid lectures. I will break up a traditional 2hour lecture into 4 sessions going for 30 minutes each. I plan to maintain student’s attention and motivation by truncating the long lectures into shorter interactive sessions.

Second, I will make use of synchronous tools like Zoom, Google Hangout, Google Meet or Skype for occasions that I need to go live with my students in discussing pertinent issues in the course. Groups will be set up in social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, or Viber for communication, collaboration and sharing of information. I am grateful to have learnt and use e-portfolio and blog in this PGCTT program. I will definitely encourage my students to use these tools to reflect on what they have learnt from each module. Asynchronous tools such forum and online quizzes will be continued to use as part of assessment. Multimedia simulations, videos or animations can be used for students to engage and interact with concepts and ideas learnt from each module.

Let’s talk about open educational resources (OER). Oh! how grateful I am to have learnt about OER in this ED403 course. It is indeed a gamechanger! We are bounded by universal ethos for common good. As Dr McGreal pointed out, “creations belong to everyone, they are public goods.” Freely sharing resources, information and knowledge will indeed move as forward as global citizens. For this, thumbs up to the founders, authors, advocators and providers of OER. It is a blessing for developing countries like the small Island nations of the pacific. OER provides high-quality learning resources and technologies that would otherwise be inaccessible and expensive. In terms of copyright laws, it is commendable that high quality resources can be granted open licenses for all. This indeed have legitimised the reuse / repurpose, sharing, revise, remix and retaining of educational resources (Bates, 2019).

After learning about OER, I have discovered some OERs that will definitely add value to the course I am teaching. Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) like Coursera and edX provided and supported by reputable institution such as Harvard and MIT university are great OERs that I will definitely utilize in my teaching. In fact, I have registered and use these tools as soon as I discovered them few days ago. Within these OER, I have discovered complete courses which are free including a free anatomy and physiology course. Other OERs that I have discovered and will definitely be utilised in my teaching are: OpenStax interactive textbook, AnatomyZone, BioDigital, TeachMeAnatomy, Anatomy and Physiology 3D Interactive Models, Armando Hasudungan YouTube Channel, Mr. Ford’s Class and more. Useful sites for OER; Openstax, MIT OpenCourseWare, Saylor Academy, OER Commons, MERLOT and more.

What an interesting find for session 2!

References

Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age – Second Edition. Vancouver, B.C.: Tony Bates Associates Ltd. Retrieved from https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/  

McGreal, G. (2014). Open Educational Resources (OER). Contact North: Contact Nord. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/91133785