Assessed Activity 4.2 [Wikimedia Activities & Wiki link]

Citations and links were added to my personal wiki page to two Digital Learning technologies pages.

For convenience, I'll post them here too (paste the links into your browser's address bar if clicking them doesn't work):

E-learning. (2015, March 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:18, March 22, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=E-learning&oldid=651604754

M-learning. (2015, February 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:18, March 22, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M-learning&oldid=649237455

The search results page in itself yielded some information that may be useful in other assessed activities, if one reads the small sections of page content attached to the results:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Digital+learning+Technologies&go=Go

Assessed Activity 4.3 (2015) Adding widgets to your blog

On the right-hand bar there is now a 'New Age Calendar' widget, and instructions for how to use the Arrow Key Control java widget. It's as simple as pressing a button.

Assessed Activity 2.3 (2015) Challenges [Non-Reference Piece]

Ubiquitous
I think the biggest challenge of Ubiquitous learning is keeping the student's attention. By the nature of the devices that ubiquitous learning takes place on, it is easy for a tech-savvy student to circumnavigate the learning plan and either break off on an investigative tangent of their own, or to ignore the lesson completely and use the devices for learning to instead entertain themselves.

Individualized

Individual learning's only true challenge is finding tutors that can connect with the students. A tutor pushing individualized learning needs to understand how to attain and keep the attention of their student in an appealing way, This also ties in with ILPs (Individualized Learning Plans) which give the student a personal reminder of what exactly they want to get out of their learning.

Assessed Activity 2.2 (2015) Technologies [Non-Reference Piece]

Most Memorable Technology from AA2.1:
I personally enjoyed Inquiry-based learning the most. While it was pretty hit-or-miss in terms of actually helping with education in general, when combined with subjects I actually liked (Arts, earlier NCEA English, and Biology, for example) it was efficient and encouraged by my subject interest.

One example of tech as a barrier:

Technology was a barrier to my learning in highschool because I couldn't afford the internet. As simple as that. The Curriculum for my later-year English classes, Religious Studies, and even Phys Ed. were written assuming I would have internet access and be able to look up a large amount of information. Keep in mind, I was unable to sneak off to the library and use the computers there because the internet filter required a time-locked generated key the teachers had to request to get anything, even the Google frontpage. This resulted not only in my learning being obstructed, but my even receiving detentions because of my inability to do the schoolwork I was assigned.

Assessed Activity 2.1 (2015) Pedagogies [Factual and Personal Pieces with References]

Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry-based Learning is when teaching direction is dictated by giving an overarching question as a learning goal, and a facilitator, tutor, or teacher will guide the students in how to discover the materials used to answer that question.

EXAMPLE:

In highschool, my last year of English studies were this:

We were presented with reading or viewing materials - Shakespeare's Hamlet, say - and walked through how to pick out in-text story-telling elements that reflected themes, like those of Hamlet's insanity. This method didn't work very well for me personally in this specific subject, because of the subjectiveness of literature and my inability to create an answer that satisfied the tutor.

Case-Based Teaching

CBT is when students are presented with realistic and usually rather serious situation in which the subject they are learning is a cornerstone. Analytical thinking and reflective judgement are encouraged by this method through deep conversation about the topic in question.

EXAMPLE:

Most of my science classes in highschool were this. Granted, there were plenty of practicals, and a few other pedagogies were used, but most of my Physics and Biology classes involved using problems (escaping earth's orbit in the former and how to evolve a creature to a specific environment in the latter, for example) to reverse-engineer the information our tutor was trying to teach us.

Project-Based Learning

Project Based Learning is a pedagogy dependent on lengthy times to study the subject and a student-driven desire to study the subject. It encompasses means to diversify learning, including sharing work with outside influences and receiving and working on criticism.

Game-Based Learning

While pretty self-explanatory, the nuances of Game-based Learning pedagogy are rather immersive:

Games can be designed by collaboration between software programmers and teachers/tutors which allows the teaching aspects to be integrated easier. The techniques of game creation can be passed on to students which not only gives them IT skills but also the skills in which they're actually studying. Also, it exploits a medium which most students thoroughly enjoy and will be willing to sink much, much time into and as a result will likely learn the material very proficiently.

How can these be integrated with E-Learning?

Inquiry:

This could be integrated by allowing students to search the internet on information on the subject they're inquiring into. However, care must be taken to teach students beforehand to look in the right places and how to critically think about articles they use as proof or self-teaching resources.

Case-Based:

This would probably benefit most from integration into a forum-type setting, where opinions and thought can be expressed and contemplated across multiple platforms, from home, and even outside regular class time. It also ties in with the idea directly above this one for Inquiry-based.

Project-Based:

Integration into a social network or forum would allow the project to be criticized by enormous numbers of people who may or may not be familiar with the subject. The internet has also been proven to be a powerful resource for those with the drive to learn, which is partly what PBL is founded on.

Game-Based:

Creating games that are for one thing internet-based and for another require cooperation amongst students, will make the experiences there considerably more engaging and broad. Capitalising on the idea of making education fun, integrating Game-based learning with e-learning makes the experience more interesting and allows the student to involve their friends, which will engage them more.

References:

 Stephenson, N (Unknown date). In Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning. Retrieved 13:56, March 9, 2015, from http://www.teachinquiry.com/index/Introduction.html

Inquiry-based learning. (2015, February 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:57, March 9, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inquiry-based_learning&oldid=647689864

Unknown Author. (Unknown date). In Case-based Teaching and Problem-based Learning. Retrieved 14:07, March 9, 2015, from http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tscbt

Unknown Author. (Unknown date). In What is Project BasedLearning (PBL)?. Retrieved 14:12, March 9, 2015, http://bie.org/about/what_pbl

Educational game. (2015, February 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:30, March 9, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Educational_game&oldid=648795281

Assessed Activity 1.2 (2015) Learning styles [Factual Piece with References]

VAKOG and NLP

VAKOG is an acronym that stands for:

Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Olfactory
Gustatory

In literal terms, these are the five senses (Sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste respectively). However VAKOG, as an examination into how the human mind experiences and remembers information, is a small part of the core of "NLP", which is explained next:

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

NLP, initially investigated in the 1970's by Richard Bandler and John Grinder as a way to exploit one human's way of sensing and interpreting information to ease the learning for another, is a somewhat discredited area of neuroscience now relegated to pseudoscience. It was suggested that by examining how a person used their VAKOG to receive and interpret instructions and experiences, in social experiences and in learning, that it would be possible to encourage both reparation of multiple psychological disorders, and ease of education.

"Bandler and Grinder claim that the skills of exceptional people can be "modeled" using NLP methodology, then those skills can be acquired by anyone." ~ Neuro-linguistic programming, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2015)

References:

Neuro-linguistic programming. (2015, February 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:32, March 9, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neuro-linguistic_programming&oldid=649279502

Representational systems (NLP). (2015, February 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:37, March 9, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Representational_systems_(NLP)&oldid=649213690

Representational Systems. (2014). Mind Academy NLP Institute. Retrieved 13:39, March 9, 2015, from http://www.mindacademy.com/nlp/representational-systems

Assessed Activity 1.1 (2015) Learning theories video [Factual Piece with Quotes and References]

Individualized Learning

Individualized Learning is when the method for teaching students is, eponymously, when the creation of a learning scheme is focused on an Individual student.

"...each learner progresses through the material at different speeds, according to his or her own learning needs and abilities." (Dreambox Learning, 2015)

Individualized Learning creates a plan tailored to each individual student so that their weaknesses are compensated for and their strengths capitalized - not only in terms of subject matter, but also content and pedagogies used.

"Many states have adopted policies that require all middle and/or high school students to develop and maintain an individualized learning plan in order to make schools more personalized and improve student outcomes." (NCWD, 2015)

Ubiquitous Learning

Ubiquitous Learning is when education and educational materials are present across a number of media or devices. Students may be able to access the information from computers, tablets, mobile phones, or even through physical means. It can be represented by videos or slideshows or text. The experience can be passive (reading text, listening to a tutor) or active (drawing objects in a program like Paint.Net).

"Ubiquitous Learning Materials (ULM) is defined as learning materials that may be transferred to mobile devices via cable or wirelessly..." (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2015)

REFERENCING::

Dreambox Learning. (2015). In Individualized Learning. Retrieved 05:20, March 5, 2015, from http://www.dreambox.com/individualized-learning

National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability [NCWD]. (2015). In Individualized Learning Plan. Retrieved 5:30, March 5, 2015 from http://www.ncwd-youth.info/ilp

Ubiquitous learning. (2014, July 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:38, March 5, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ubiquitous_learning&oldid=618363559