Notes

Outline

IT Forum University of Toronto Presented by Dr. Fred T. Hofstetter University of Delaware

Dreams “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

Moore’s Law

Moore’s Law

Al Gore’s Law Computer prices are declining at a rate of 50% per year.

Digitization, Convergence, and Distribution We can digitize anything you can read, see or hear; put it online in a standardized format; and provide worldwide access any time or place.

Scan any text

Snap any picture

Record any sound

Capture any video

Publish to the Web

Deliver Anywhere

Distribution Channels Will Change MP3 Case Study Toward Mobile Computing

What is MP3?

Free MP3 Downloads One of the MP3 songs is “Time Has Told Me” from the hit country music album What I Deserve, by Kelly Willis.

Rio

Cassiopeia It can play MP3 files as well as run Windows.

More Storage

Mobile Computing Cassiopeia and other hand-held devices can also connect to the Internet via wireless technologies.

Palm VII Wireless Internet

Teledesic Satellite Network The Teledesic Network will consist of 288 satellites divided into 12 planes, each with 24 satellites. As the satellite planes orbit north-to-south and south-to-north, the Earth rotates underneath.

Where Matters Not

Implications for Education Behavioralism versus Constructivism

From Instructor to Constructor Much of what happens in the traditional classroom was influenced by the behaviorist movement, which dominated American psychology from about 1920 to 1970.

B. F. Skinner Chief among the behaviorists was Skinner, who saw that human behavior is powerfully shaped by its consequences.

Outcomes Skinner felt that psychology was essentially about behavior, and that behavior was largely determined by its outcomes.

Education Requires More Although Skinnerian methods have been effective in training, the behaviorists fell short of what is most important in education for most educators.

Strategies for Learning To educate, you must help the student develop strategies for learning.  Such is the goal of the cognitive movement in education.

Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology portrays learners as active processors of information.  Students learn better when they can invent knowledge through inquiry and experimentation instead of memorizing facts presented in a teacher-dominated classroom.

Traditional Classrooms It is difficult for a teacher to provide this kind of environment for each student in a traditional classroom.  Since there is only one teacher for many students, it is physically impossible for a teacher to support each student’s individual needs.

World Wide Web The World Wide Web helps by providing students with an interconnected world of knowledge to explore.

Downloading Screen capture and downloading enable students to collect what they discover and construct a framework for organizing and understanding.

Active Processors Since the learner is portrayed as an active processor, the trend to teach from this perspective is known as the constructivist movement in education.

Putting Theory into Practice with Serf® A Constructivist Web-based Teaching and Learning Environment

What Is Serf? Invented in 1997, Serf is a self-paced multimedia learning environment that enables students to navigate a syllabus, access instructional resources, communicate, and submit assignments over the Web. Instructors create courses without having to know HTML.

Logging On

Viewing the Course

Student Control Panel

Instructor Options

Editing a Serf Syllabus

Kinds of Syllabus Events

Creating an Event

Editor                 Viewer

Navigating via the Index

Rostering Students

Using the Gradebook

Assigning Grades

Discussion Forums

Controlling Forum Access

Reading Forum Topics

Writing In a Forum

Kinds of Test Questions True/False Multiple Choice Fill-in-the-Blank Image Map Short Answer Slider (Likert Scale)

Editing a Question

Editing a Pool

Editing a Module Practice vs Graded Weight of Module Criterion Repeats Reviews Deadlines Time frames

Editing a Section Relative weight Question pool Random or sequential Length Competency Origin Hide or see scores Time limit Allow skipping questions Allow changing answers Branching on condition

Creating a Diagnosis

Making a Diagnostic

Internet Literacy Internet Literacy is a McGraw-Hill Textbook. PBS distributes a TeleWEBcourse version that is powered by Serf. Let us go online.

Identifying the Zone Vygotsky defined the zone of proximal development as the difference between the difficulty level of a problem a student can cope with independently and the level  that can be accomplished with help from others. Systems like Serf identify the zone and provide the help from others.

Throwing the Zone Away In traditional teaching, we throw the zone away. Students take tests, the results of which often are never handed back. Students hand in term papers at the end of a course with no chance to rewrite them. We are throwing the zone away.

Teaching in the Zone Constructivist teaching via the Web brings the student into the zone. The instructor becomes a coach who helps the student achieve goals. Time shifting makes the process efficient and manageable for student and teacher alike.

Reflections on Grading Online Teachers actually look forward to grading because it’s helpful instead of punitive. I find out right away when a student begins misunderstanding something. I log on when I feel like doing so.  I’m in a good mood when I grade. Students like the coaching and the chance to try for a higher grade.

Coping with the Future The future changes before it gets here.

Multi Multimedia Vendors create these competing standards to differentiate their products. Educators must help vendors understand this is self-defeating.

Keeping Up

The Node Perhaps the best site for studying the current state of Instructional Management Systems is The Node. Follow the link to the Independent Eye at the TFL database, where you will find an invaluable source of comparisons and critical reviews of the leading Web-based teaching and learning packages.

Slide 68

Slide 69

Landonline Designed to help educators evaluate and select online delivery software. Produced by the Project Team of Bruce Landon of Douglas College, Randy Bruce, Kwantlen University College and Amanda Harby, Centre for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology.

Asynchronous Learning Network The Asynchronous Learning Network is a valuable resource for keeping track of new developments in Instructional Management Systems. Follow the link to ALN Products for a complete listing of Web-based instructional management systems and communication environments on the market today.

Slide 72

Slide 73

IMS Project Sponsored by EDUCAUSE, the IMS Project is creating a set of standards for defining protocols for the interoperability of instructional management systems.

Slide 75

What’s Next? Multimedia Literacy is a McGraw-Hill Textbook coming out in a newly created third edition. In the fall of 2000, a TeleWEBcourse version will debut.

Multimedia Literacy Define multimedia and realize how it is changing the world Create multimedia applications and publish them to the Web Understand the societal impact of multimedia technology Research online a multimedia term paper and publish it to the Web in MLA, APA, or CMS style

NetMeeting Teachers and students can be anywhere. As Paquin said, “there is no there.”

Digital Video On Demand Master Teaching Any Time, Any Place

Master Teachers On Demand

Artwork Credits The author wishes to thank artist Roy Scott for granting permission to show these images from his portfolio as part of this presentation.

Here’s a closing quote from Alan Kay, VP of R&D at Walt Disney Imagineering. “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”