User talk:Martine-learner

E-learning experiences has been an eye-opener for me. It has reinforced the knowledge gained in the theoretical education subjects like Adult Learning in Context and applied it to an e-learning perspective. The ning network is similar to the platform that I used in my exchange semester in México for a web-design subject, luckily this one was in English!

I began the subject by introducing my PLE. This set out what I desired to achieve by taking part in this subject and what I thought were important terms concerning e-learning. My wordle described accurately the terms I thought would be invloved in the subject and on revisiting these early pages I realise what an interesting topic e-learning is and just how wide ranging the implications of technology are on our society. The exposure to the various themes, theroies and frameworks of e-learning has been comprehensive to say the least! This is, I believe, because I took e-learning experiences and e-learning design in the same semester, an interesting choice that I believe has paid off and led to me being extremely aware of technology, pedagogy and learning this semester.

I had a backgound for the format of the subject but only an overview of the theories on learning and little to no idea about e-learning theories specifically. This caused me to worry about the content and delivery of the course especially the fact that it was in block mode. This more remote approach to learning reflects the concepts of e-learning because learners needed to draw from 'Candy's constructivist approach (which) describes self-directed learning as either a learning process or a personal developmentthat (that) develops independant and critical thought'(Damianoff 2010, p.2). The ning was designed to connect us as a class, assisting us to communicate and discover what we were learning over the semester. Renata had an intersting post on the ning about constructivism. I did find, however, that the ning was not as appealing for me as i thought it would be. Whether it was the stucture of the assessments or the amount and relevance of the content, I did not feel that it was a space that assisted my learning very often during the semester. For example, there is not any information about this assignment on our ning. I searched assessment 1, 1.2 but could not find any posts with hints or reminders and this may have been helpful to my progression. I did access the ning for group work and felt that Renee, Jaymie and I communicated well through the platform. I believe this group work followed connectivism theory as 'In connectivism, the staring point for learning occurs when knowledge is actuated through the process of a learner connecting to and feeding information into a learning community' (Hill & Kop 2008, p.2). We chose and analysed our information, shared and collaborated online and in person and delivered the knowledge to the class in a presentation.

The discussions and examples on Web 2.0 were also relevant and useful to me both in this subject and another, for my Global Studies degree. I recently completed my work placement for this subject which involved the compliation and analysis of web 2.0 and social media response to the BP oil disaster. The background I recieved during e-learning experiences allowed me to jump in and produce a report that received much praise from the organisation.I believe this cemented learning in this subject by transferring it to the workplace. Leberman et al describe 'Learning transfer occurs when prior learned knowledge and skills affect the way in which individuals apply new knowledge or skills to new situations' (cited in Schulz 2010, p.1). I was comfortable describing the technology and believe that my experience in this subject assisted me with this element.

Pedagogy is a topic that I had seen before but assessment 2 in this subject allowed me to explore the science and its relevance in designing e-learning programs to suit today's learners. A nice example of a pedagogial e-learning framework is listed by Minle & Suddeby (2008, p.116) while studying the implementation of an e-learning policy in New Zealand's universities:

1. Take a learner centered approach. 2. Follow and share good practice. 3. Be innovative. 4. Develop models for financial affordability/sustainability.

Understanding the way in which a framework sets out the goals for what outcomes are desired for e-learning creates certainty and allows developers to operate within given settings. This should, in turn, lead to good outcomes for e-learning in a given context.

From my classmates the most significant aspect of e-learning I took from this semester is from my team mate Renee and her experience with e-learning champions. I had not heard of this term before and realise that it is a fantastic innovation in e-learning. the idea to give expert training to one person in a department and get them to spread the knowledge works on many levels. It saves money for the organisation, assists in developing not only technical skills but communication skills, but the greatest part about it is that the knowledge is transferred in a level way because of the employee's equal perspective within the organisation. It is not about an expert listing the procedures and hoping that people are listening and will remember everything from a person they do not have day to day contact with. It is about making mistakes, just as the champion is likely to have made, and correcting these and developing learning within the organisation for the benefit of everybody.

This has been an interesting and enjoyable semester and I am glad I chose the Organisational Learning major in Global Studies. It has been a revelation to analyse and reflect on learning and i find myself being more and more interested in finding out about learning and the links to technology and its implications for our society into the future.

Damainoff, D., 2010, Self Directed Learning Lifelong Learning and Transformative Learning in the society for Crreative Anachronism, in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses,ProQuest.

Hill, A., & Kop, R., 2008, Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or Vestige of the past?, in International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning vol.9 no.3, Education Research Complete.

Milne, J., & Suddeby, G., Coordinated, collaborative and coherent: Developing and implementing e-learning guidelines within a national tertiary education system, in Campus-Wide Information Systems vol.25 no.2,Emerald Group Publishing, UK.

Schulz, L., 2010, Telecommuting and learning style preference: an examination of learning in the workplace, Capella University, USA.