M2-Week 6-Home

The following is a reflection on Week 6 (Home) of the Instructional Design & eAuthoring module.

Adobe Captivate Notes
03/12/16

Adobe Feature Request
http://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

Blog by Captivate Expert
http://blog.lilybiri.com/drag-and-drop-in-2016-with-captivate-9

Very good (and long) Captivate thread in Adobe forum
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/853505

Note: (Audio) – I had to download and install SoundFlower 1.6.6 to allow me to record ‘pass-through’ audio from my iMac’s sound card to Adobe Captivate 9.
==========

Note: (Audio): – Soundflower no longer works. Try LoopBack instead. Free version degrades after 20 minutes.
==========
https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/

Project Times

Organise Images – 12:30 – 13:30 (1 hour)
Drag and Drop – 14:30 – 22:30 (8 hours)
3 Narration Slides – 22:30 – 06:30 (8 hours)

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED!
=====================
Renaming images can mess up drag and drop
Careful and tedious naming of text captions is really important
Timing within slides is everything!

Drag and Drop
===========

Very difficult overall. It has a lot of complexity attached to it. Very buggy.

Learn how to do it via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTtL74chAnU&spfreload=10

If you put multiple waste items on the one slide, Adobe Captivate only informs the user that he is correct if all the dropped items are fully correct. If you get even one item incorrect (say out of 5 items, i.e. you are 80% correct) from multiple waste items, Adobe Captivate informs the user that he is incorrect.

So, I put placed one waste item only per slide so that the user could get feedback as to whether he was correct or incorrect for that item.

I didn’t want the user to have to click on the Submit button to get feedback. After some research, I discovered a way of dispensing with the need to use this button via the following link: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1280136
Basically, you tick the checkbox Auto Submit Correct Answers.

Free Audio
=========

I discovered free audio clips on the following website: http://www.orangefreesounds.com

I downloaded free audio clips (in MP3 format) for correct and wrong answers for the drag and drop assessment at the beginning.

The following text is in a Read.txt file that accompanies each MP3 audio file.
Hello from Orange Free Sounds,
Stock audio – Free sound effects, loops and music.
There are no hidden costs or need to sign-up.
Licence: The sound effect is permitted for non-commercial use under license ìAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
http://www.orangefreesounds.com/

This licence (which was covered in Week 6 by Pauline Rooney) is of the following type:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

According to the appropriate section of the Creative Commons website at the following link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:

Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.

The Big Bang Theory Theme Song
==========================
http://www.televisiontunes.com/Big_Bang_Theory_-_Full_(The).html

M2-Week 6-Class

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 6)

The following is a reflection on the Tuesday morning class that took place on 29th November 2016 from 10:00 to 13:00 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Description

THIS WEEK:  Learning Design and Copyright

Learning Design (Clare Gormley)
============================

7Cs of Learning Design
(Grainne Conole)

Storyboard Evaluation Rubric
(Mor, Warburton & Ullmo 2015)

Copyright (Pauline Rooney)
=======================

N.B. Check out Public Domain versus Copyright versus Creative Commons.

What is copyright?
—————————–

Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000.

70 years after the death of the author.

Original, Literary, Dramatic, Musical, Artistic.

Skill, Labour and Judgement are the components of what constitute the copyright of a work.

Is this legitimate?
—————————

YES
Fair dealing
Use of the performer’s official channel
Quoting from a work
It would be better if I acknowledged the author/copyright

NO
If I embed the video
If I embed the channel

LINKING
Is not an infringement of copyright
Unless the linker knew or ought to have known they were linking to material that infringes copyright

Fair Dealing / Educational Use
Single copy extracts OK for

What are OERs?
————————-

Teaching, learning resources in the public domain

Open Courseware(Big OERs)
——————————————-
Khan Academy
YouTube
OpenLearn
FutureLearn
SlideShare
MOOCs
Coursera
NDLR

Creative Commons (Pauline Rooney)
===============================
A non-profit organisation in California.
6 different licences.
Fills the gap between public domain and copyright.

Sites with Creative Commons
———————————————

YouTube
Search.creativecommons.org
Google Advanced Search
European
Flickr
Slideshare

Useful Links
——————–
Irish Copyright Licencing Agency
JISC Legal
Presentation by Eoin O’Dell (2015)
Copyright Law for eLearning Authors

Feelings

Evaluation

Analysis

Conclusions

Personal Action Plans

PDST

PDST Technology in Education Conference

The following is a description of the PDST Technology in Education Conference that took place on Wednesday 23rd November 2016 in the The Convention Centre Dublin.

Description

PDST/PDST Technology in Education, in conjunction with the ICT committee of NAPD, hosted a conference for school leaders providing an opportunity for all attendees to consider a number of whole school issues in advance of annual funding being released by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) as per the Department of Education and Skills Digital Strategy for Schools (2015 – 2020).  I attended this full day conference in The Convention Centre Dublin.

Summary of reflections of today’s conference:

(1) ePortfolios for TY students
(2) Microsoft OneNote (Microsoft Classroom) for ePortfolio.
(3) A constructivist pedagogical orientation is encouraged according to Seán Gallagher, Deputy Director, PDST.
(4) €210 million for all primary and secondary schools over five years.
(5) Probably €15,000 per year for my school.
(6) A WiFi infrastructure in my school is likely to cost in the region of €25,000.

Feelings

I hadn’t been in The Convention Centre Dublin before.  It’s an extremely impressive large light-filled modern building overlooking the River Liffey on Dublin’s north quays.

 

 

Evaluation

This was a very good conference.  I learned about a Transition Year pilot project (which is due to go mainstream in 2017) where students use ePortfolios for storage, workspace and showcase instead of hard copy folders of their work for the year.  I discovered that one of the schools that presented at the conference (Colaiste Muire, Ennis) use OneNote Online for their ePortfolios.  This is an Office 365 tool and Colaiste Muire is an Office 365 School.  My own school is an Office 365 School so it makes sense that my school evaluates OneNote Online as a tool for creating ePortfolios.

 

Analysis

The conference began with the following two keynotes.  The first keynote by Jim Devine (who is based in Joint Research Centre (JRC), Seville) looked at an EU digital learning project (DigComp 2.0).  The second keynote from Seán Gallagher looked at the situation nationally and in particular the funding in relation to the current five year National Strategy (2015 – 2020).  He mentioned that the PDST try to champion a constructivist pedagogical orientation and favour ongoing assessment.  There are ‘good practice’ videos on the PDST website.  He also looked at the Scoilnet website (created and managed by PDST Technology in Education) and in particular the following digital material on this website:

– Irish Times Archive
– Maps
– Science hooks
– Licenced Digital Content (encyclopaedias, etc)
– Census At School
– Arts in Education

Conclusions

It was interesting to see that ePortfolios are now being encouraged in second level schools as well as being something that is an integral part of my MSc in Applied eLearning degree course.

Personal Action Plans

Inform the Transition Year Co-ordinator in my school about the ePortfolio pilot project.

Encourage my colleagues to register for the excellent Scoilnet website.

M2-Week 5-Home

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 5)

The following is a reflection on the week immediately after the class that took place on Tuesday 22nd November 2016 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Wednesday 23rd November 2016 – PDST TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION ICT CONFERENCE

pdst_02pdst_09

Description

PDST/PDST Technology in Education, in conjunction with the ICT committee of NAPD, hosted a conference for school leaders providing an opportunity for all attendees to consider a number of whole school issues in advance of annual funding being released by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) as per the Department of Education and Skills Digital Strategy for Schools (2015 – 2020).  I attended this full day conference in The Convention Centre Dublin.

Summary of reflections of today’s conference:

(1) ePortfolios for TY students
(2) Microsoft OneNote (Microsoft Classroom) for ePortfolio.
(3) A constructivist pedagogical orientation is encouraged according to Seán Gallagher, Deputy Director, PDST.
(4) €210 million for all primary and secondary schools over five years.
(5) Probably €15,000 per year for my school.
(6) A WiFi infrastructure in my school is likely to cost in the region of €25,000.

Feelings

I hadn’t been in The Convention Centre Dublin before.  It’s an extremely impressive large light-filled modern building overlooking the River Liffey on Dublin’s north quays.

Evaluation

This was a very good conference.  I learned about a Transition Year pilot project (which is due to go mainstream in 2017) where students use ePortfolios for storage, workspace and showcase instead of hard copy folders of their work for the year.  I discovered that one of the schools that presented at the conference (Colaiste Muire, Ennis) use OneNote Online for their ePortfolios.  This is an Office 365 tool and Colaiste Muire is an Office 365 School.  My own school is an Office 365 School so it makes sense that my school evaluates OneNote Online as a tool for creating ePortfolios.

Analysis

The conference began with the following two keynotes.  The first keynote by Jim Devine (who is based in Joint Research Centre (JRC), Seville) looked at an EU digital learning project (DigComp 2.0).  The second keynote from Seán Gallagher looked at the situation nationally and in particular the funding in relation to the current five year National Strategy (2015 – 2020).  He mentioned that the PDST try to champion a constructivist pedagogical orientation and favour ongoing assessment.  There are ‘good practice’ videos on the PDST website.  He also looked at the Scoilnet website (created and managed by PDST Technology in Education) and in particular the following digital material on this website:

– Irish Times Archive
– Maps
– Science hooks
– Licenced Digital Content (encyclopaedias, etc)
– Census At School
– Arts in Education

Conclusions

It was interesting to see that ePortfolios are now being encouraged in second level schools as well as being something that is an integral part of my MSc in Applied eLearning degree course.

Personal Action Plans

Inform the Transition Year Co-ordinator in my school about the ePortfolio pilot project.

Encourage my colleagues to register for the excellent Scoilnet website.

Friday 25th November 2016 – FEEDBACK & RESULT (LEARNING THEORIES PAPER)

lttc-logo
learning-theories_01

 

 

 

Description

I received my result and feedback by email from Claire McAvinia today on my Learning Theories paper.  I received 4 passes out of 4 in the areas covered by the marking rubric for the paper.  The main areas which could have been improved were my ‘Conclusion’ section and by providing more examples linked to my professional practice.  I did a section at the end called Implications for Instructional Design without referring to this section earlier in the paper.  There were a very small number of slightly incorrect APA citations / references.  The overall feedback was very favourable towards my paper.

Feelings

I was pleased but not surprised that I had passed all sections (as per the rubrick) of Module 1 (Learning Theories).  I had spent a lot of time reading for and writing this paper with twenty nine references in total.

Evaluation

I didn’t have a ‘Conclusion’ section and this is something that I must include next time I write a paper.  I could have provided more examples linked to my professional practice but I had reached my word count quota (of 2200) words.

Analysis

I began work on the paper quite early and I devoted about five weekends to it.  I think that the key to writing a good paper is to do enough background reading to feel comfortable with the topic, create a structure for the paper, write a full draft of the paper and finally distill the paper to its final version through a series of edits.

Conclusion

I’m happy that I passed and I think that I was already aware of my paper’s minor shortcomings (other than APA) prior to receiving feedback.

Personal Action Plans

None.

Sunday 27th November 2016 – ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 3 AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 4

e-learning-science e-learning-2-0

Description

I wrote two annotated bibliographies this weekend:

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2011) Applying the Contiguity Principle. In Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E., E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.

Downes, S. (2005). E-learning 2.0. eLearn Magazine, 2005(10), 1.

While reading Stephen Downes hugely influential 2005 paper E-Learning 2.0, I came across the first reference below which in turn refers to the second reference below

The E-Learning Framework (2004 – 2012 – archived and defunct)
http://www.elframework.org/framework/index.html

Cetus LLP
http://cetis.org.uk

Also check out IMS Global Learning consortium
http://www.imsglobal.org

Monday 28th November 2016 – HOMEWORK FOR TOMORROW’S CLASS

captivate-v-storyline

Description

I prepared for next Tuesday’s class (Week 6) on Instructional Design and eAuthoring by doing a comparative analysis of Articulate Storyline 2 versus Adobe Captivate 9.  I divided this up between SECTION A – SUMMARY and SECTION B – MORE DETAIL but I have provide just the summary here:
_________________________

SECTION A – SUMMARY
_________________________

(1) Comparison between Adobe Captivate 9 and Articulate Storyline 2 (link):
http://ecoach.com/articles/storyline2-vs-captivate9/

Overall
======
Storyline verus Captivate (Storyline % first versus Captivate % second)

LEARNING CURVE             (75% versus 60%)
MOBILE LEARNING          (20% versus 90%)
COMMUNITY                      (90% versus 50%)
PRICE                                   (60% versus 75%)
PUBLISHING OPTIONS     (90% versus 95%)
_____________________________________________

OVERALL                             (67% versus 87%)
_____________________________________________

(2) Adobe Captivate 9 Pricing (including VAT)

€1,351.87     Full Licence Price
€552.27        Upgrade Price
€429.27        Student & Teacher Edition
€442.48        Subscription (€36.89 per month)

(3) Annotated Bibliography

Duvall, M. (2014). Adobe Captivate as a Tool to Create eLearning Scenarios. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2014 (pp. 514-517). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

I read the following paper that looks at how instructional design can bring about constructivist learning.

https://sites.google.com/a/boisestate.edu/edtech504/using-instructional-design-to-implement-constructivist-e-learning-1

Feelings

Although Articulate Storyline 2 and Adobe Captivate 9 are similar products, Captivate comes out with a higher review score.  I was pleased that I had reviewed these products in the past and that I appear (objectively) to have been correct in choosing to purchase Captivate.  This was a major decision with both products costing approximately €1,300 although I managed to purchase an academic version of Captivate for approximately €400.

Evaluation

Adobe Captivate scores much higher than Articulate Storyline for its mobile learning features (90% versus 20%).  This is probably because Captivate allows for app development and responsive design whereas Storyline does not.  However, Articulate Storyline scores much higher than Adobe Captivate for its community of practice (90% versus 50%).

Analysis

Overall, Captivate scores 20% higher than Articulate (87% versus 67%).

Conclusion

Adobe Captivate is a better product overall than Articulate Storyline.  Also, see the following link:

Adobe Captivate 6 Vs Articulate Storyline

Personal Action Plans

None.

M2-Week 5-Class

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 5)

The following is a reflection on the Tuesday morning class that took place on 22nd November 2016 from 10:00 to 13:00 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Description

According to the hard copy Module Handbook 2016/17, today’s class was to address the following topics (and to include the guest lecturer(s) from the Digital Media Centre):

  • eLearning Development
  • Rapid development
  • Using selected software for development

This was very much a below par lecture / presentation today.  The guest speaker(s) (to speak about Adobe Premier and Adobe AfterEffects) didn’t show up. Damian Gordon introduced a hastily put together (what he called) ‘Plan B’ which consisted of (a) eLearning and Ethics (b) Top 200 Learning Tools.  The Top 200 Learning Tools was meant to be a topic on next week’s class.

In reality, the topics for today’s class were:

  • eLearning and Ethics
  • Top 200 Learning Tools

Damian Gordon delivered both of these topics.  Pauline Rooney was there throughout but didn’t speak other than to inform the class that we could follow the course on Twitter #580.

Feelings

I felt very disappointed during today’s class.  This was the third week in five weeks that a guest lecturer had failed to appear.  This was the first time that Damian actually acknowledged that a guest lecturer was due to appear but wasn’t going to appear.  I had spent a couple of hours the previous night downloading the Adobe Premier and Adobe AfterEffects materials from Webcourses for today’s classs.  I now feel that there is no point in me downloading and becoming familiar with materials from Webcourses in advance of classes.  Sometimes, the materials appear the day before class and sometimes they don’t appear until the day of class.  This is inconsistent and does not encourage or allow students to develop a consistent approach to engaging with the class materials on Webcourses.

Evaluation

The first part of the class was devoted to ethical and legal issues.  This more interesting aspects were 2012: The year Irish newspapers tried to destroy the web (Irish newspapers tried to charge organisations for linking to newspaper  stories on social media) and a damages award of €75,000 to a man following a defamatory Facebook posting.

Top 200 Tools for Learning 2016 is Jane Hart’s independent resource site about learning trends, technologies and tools.  The website is called Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies and has been in existence since 2007.  I hadn’t seen this website before so I think that it is useful to be aware of its existence and to refer to it from time to time.  Damian got the class to read up on about 5 tools each so that the class itself could review roughly the top 50 Learning Tools.  I think that this was a good way of getting the class to learn about some of the tools and it also added variety to the class presentation today.  The top 20 Learning Tools for 2016 are:

1 – YouTube
2 – Google Search
3 – Twitter
4 – PowerPoint
5 – Google Docs/Drive
6 – Facebook
7 – Skype
8 – LinkedIn
9 – WordPress
10 – Dropbox
11 – Wikipedia
12 – Yammer
13 – WhatsApp
14 – Prezi
15 – Kahoot
16 – Word
17 – Evernote
18 – Slideshare
19 – OneNote
20 – Slack

I was familiar with 19 of the 20 tools.  The only tool that I am not familiar with is Number 12 (Yammer).

Analysis

I think that it is important to know that it is legal to link to online Irish newspaper articles in an eLearning artefact and that there are no charges for doing. This is in spite of attempts by National Newspapers of Ireland/Newspaper Licencing Ireland to charge for such links in 2012.

Conclusions

It’s a good thing that I did download all of the Adobe Premier and Adobe AfterEffects materials from Webcourses because the 7 folders and 24 files that were there on Monday 21st November 2016 have now disappeared (at time of writing 25/12/16) and contain the ‘Plan B’ files and folders (Accessibility folder, eLearning and Ethics PowerPoint, etc.)

Personal Action Plans

Become familiar with the learning tool Yammer.

M2-Week 4-Home

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 4)

The following is a reflection on the week immediately after the class that took place on Tuesday 15th November 2016 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Wednesday 16th November 2016 – THE 12 APPS OF CHRISTMAS

12-apps-of-christmas-2016

Description

I signed up to the online event The 12 Apps of Christmas run by DIT’s Dr. Frances Boylan.  The text below is from the link:

The 12 Apps of Christmas course from the Dublin Institute of Technology is a free, open, short, online Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course, that ran for the last two years over the twelve weekdays from December 1st to December 16th. This is the third iteration of this course.

In 2014, 700 educators worldwide followed the course and were introduced to iMindmap, Socrative, Aurasma, Explain Everything, EasyBib, Thinglink, Instapaper, Animoto, Evernote, CamScanner, Bonfyre, and Voice Recorder HD, all of which are available from both Google Play and the iTunes App store. Each app was evaluated in turn against the SAMR model of technology integration and explored in terms of its potential to enhance, modify, and redefine teaching, learning and/or assessment practices in the higher education context.  The course itself adhered to the social constructivist theory of learning, and the content presented each day was influenced heavily by the TPACK framework. The site has been left online as an open resource for all to use and is covered by the Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. It can be accessed at https://the12appsofchristmas.wordpress.com/.

Feelings

I have discovered a small number of useful educational apps in the past year (such as Socrative and Algebra Touch) so I always have a positive disposition towards evaluating new apps.

Evaluation

It is not possible to evaluate this course as I have not yet started it.

Analysis

It’s great to hear that this course is being run by a staff member of DIT’s LTTC.

Conclusions

The course must have been successful for the first two years since it is now in its third iteration.

Personal Action Plans

Put the 1st December as a date in my diary as a reminder of the course start date.

Thursday 17th November 2016 – SLACK

slack

Description

Allesio invited me to join his new group ‘TheCompostivist’ today on a new (to me) app called Slack.  This is a chat app but also allows for file storage of up to 5GB (free) and it accommodates video conferencing via built-in Skype.  I downloaded Slack 2.3.2 for MacOS and also downloaded the apps for iPhone and iPad.

We chatted about cognitive overload and fatigue in relation to instructional design.  I passed on an Amazon.co.uk reference to the latest edition (8th Edition) of the book The Systematic Design of Instruction.  Here is the link and bibliographic reference to the 6th edition of that book:

Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J. O. (2004). The systematic design of instruction. (6th ed.). ???:  Allyn & Bacon.

Feelings

I began to worry that our group The Compostivists might now have too many modes of communication (email, WhatsApp and now Slack).  Notwithstanding my reservations, I decided to join the group that Allesio had set up for The Compostivists as I am always interested in trying out new technologies.

Evaluation

Quite quickly, I could see that Slack is more powerful than WhatsApp due to the fact that it has multiple channels, file transfer and a desktop app (in addition to mobile apps).

Analysis

It will probably become more difficult to communicate among the group with the addition of Slack.  The reason for this is that even if Mick and Rachel join the Slack group, it may now mean that I will have to send messages on both WhatsApp and Slack unless we decide to abandon using WhatsApp.

Conclusions

I don’t have a problem in using multiple means of communication for the short life span of this project.

Personal Action Plans

None

Friday 18th November 2016 – MOODLE

moodle

Description

I created an Excel file with the following columns to create a CSV file to import users into MOODLE.

last name    first name    username MK1    username MK2    username MK3   password    email             full record

The 8 columns contained the following Excel formulas in order to parse the data for each subsequent column from 3 to 8

Column A    Column B    Column C     Column D
Column E    Column F     Column G    Column H
last name    first name    username MK1    username MK2
username MK3                 password               email
full record

String1        String2        =CONCATENATE(LOWER(B2),”.”,LOWER(A2))    =SUBSTITUTE(C2,” “,””)        =SUBSTITUTE(D2,”‘”,””)        String3        CONCATENATE(E2,”.”,”@domainname.ie”)    =CONCATENATE(A2,”,”,B2,”,”,E2,”,”,F2,”,”,G2)

O’Last name    Firstname    firstname.o’last name                      firstname.o’lastname           firstname.olastname
Pass7orD                                 firstname.olastname@domainname.ie
O’Lastname,Firstname,firstname.olastname,Pass7orD,
firstname.olastname@domainname.ie

Note:  The SUBSTITUTE command in Column D removes any spaces in a username (to generate username Mk2) while the SUBSTITUTE command in Column E removes any quote marks (‘) (to generate username Mk3)

I had a MAJOR breakthrough with MOODLE tonight. I created sections for my Junior Certificate Higher Level Maths class and added content to these sections.  The content that I added was in the form of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files.  I tested all of this and it all worked.  I discovered that MOODLE allows the Site Administrator to create sections as calendar weeks, topics or social forums.

I downloaded and installed the iPhone and iPad apps for MOODLE. At first, I couldn’t access the MOODLE site that I had set up at my school’s website.  However, this was easily rectified by switching on a checkbox in MOODLE Administration.

Feelings

I was delighted about the progress that I had made with MOODLE.

Evaluation

This has been an important night’s work as I have now learned how to use the course content functionality of MOODLE as well as the mobile apps for it.

Analysis

I quite liked the reponsive design of MOODLE in relation to how the classes and content looked on my iPhone and iPad.

Conclusions

It may be possible to use MOODLE with one or two of my classes this academic year.  Time is always the issue – I generally don’t have a problem with surmounting technical barriers or with learning curves.

Personal Action Plans

Put content for my 6th Year Higher Level Maths class up on MOODLE which I have installed on my school’s web space.

Saturday 19th November 2016 – ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2 and CompendiumLD

Description

I was interested in writing an annotated bibliography on Adobe Captivate as this is the development tool that my group The Compostivists has decided to use for its project.  So, I have decided that for my second annotated bibliography I will critique a research paper on Adobe Captivate.  I read the following research paper from 2014:

Duvall, M. (2014). Adobe Captivate as a Tool to Create eLearning Scenarios. In T. Bastiaens (Ed.), Proceedings of E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2014 (pp. 514-517). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

I downloaded and installed CompendiumLD (LD = Learning Design) which is an Open University tool.  See the links below for more information.

http://compendiumld.open.ac.uk
http://compendiumld.open.ac.uk/documentation/version1.0/QuickRefGuides/stencilsAndNodes/
http://compendiumld.open.ac.uk/documentation/version1.0/tutorials/

Feelings

I was looking forward to reading this paper as I had not read any non-Adobe articles on Adobe Captivate to date.

Evaluation

Having read the paper, I didn’t find it terribly interesting, useful or informative.   It dealt Captivate’s as a tool for scenarios and this is not how I plan to use Captivate for the composting project.

Analysis

Matthew Duvall’s paper examines the appropriateness of Adobe Captivate 7.0 for creating eLearning scenarios to enhance online education.  Duvall identifies himself as a graduate student with five year’s teaching experience and ten years as a computer programmer.  This blend of experience would suggest that he is well qualified to write a research paper which seeks to analyse the virtues of the eLearning development tool Adobe Captivate.  This paper addresses two questions: (1) What are the affordances of Adobe Captivate 7.0 for creating scenarios? (2) What are its constraints?

Conclusions

In relation to constraints, Duvall believes the complexity of parts of the application means that a novice Captivate user would need to dedicate a great deal of time simply learning how to use the technology before applying it.  The author sees the software reflecting the behaviourist model of learning, which is a very traditional eLearning approach.  Finally, Duvall mentions the high cost of Adobe Captivate which makes it very expensive to buy.  This is certainly true, with this reviewer establishing that the full license price of Adobe Captivate 9 is €1,351.77.

Personal Action Plans

None.

Monday 21st November 2016 – MEETING 3 OF THE COMPOSTIVISTS

blackboard-collaborate-selfie
Virtual Meeting of The Compostivists using my iMac and Webcourses (Blackboard)

Description

This meeting took place remotely using Webcourses.

Feelings

 

Evaluation

 

Analysis

 

Conclusions

Here’s the email that I sent to the other members of the group after the meeting.

Hi All,

Please find attached 9 screenshots (SS 01 to SS 09) plus a selfie (of me sitting at my Mac!) which constitute the minutes (and evidence of) of tonight’s remote meeting.  This meeting took place using the Blackboard Collaborate feature of Webcourses.

I think that the meeting was very successful especially given that it was our first time to use this application.  We managed to use video, sound, whiteboard / markers and text chat.

Well done everyone!

Regards,

Gerry.

Personal Action Plans

Send email to the group members,

Screenshots of Virtual Meeting

blackboard-collaborate-ss-01

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M2-Week 4-Class

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 4)

The following is a reflection on the Tuesday morning class that took place on 15th November 2016 from 10:00 to 13:00 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Description

According to the hard copy Module Handbook 2016/17, today’s class was to address the following topics: (There were no guest lecturers scheduled for today):

  • Introduction to models of instructional design
  • What’s the use of a VLE?
  • Designing for diverse platforms (Mobile) (video + S3QR)

The first two topics were covered but the third (Designing for diverse platforms (Mobile)) was not dealt with.  There is a PowerPoint file on mLearning attributed to Damian Gordon and Claire McDonnell on Webcourses as well as a research paper from 2012 (in PDF form) entitled Mobile Learning: Not Just Another Delivery Method and a MP4 video which is a video recording of Damian Gordon going through the mLearning PowerPoint slideshow.

The first topic (Models of Instructional Design) was dealt with by Damian Gordon and the second topic (VLEs) was delivered by Pauline Rooney.

Models of Instructional Design was really a flipped classroom as Damian had emailed the class about five videos of himself teaching this topic.  I had looked at all the videos in advance and although I was not really used to being taught this way, I found it an enjoyable and effective way to be taught.  I thought that Damian synchronised his narration with the PowerPoint slideshow in the background very effectively.  It worked!

The following macro models of instructional design were dealt with during today’s class:

addie

(1) Bloom’s Taxonomy
(2) ADDIE Model
(3) ASSURE Model
(4) ABCD Format
(5) Dick and Carey Model
(6) Tripp and Bichelmeyer Rapid Prototyping
(7) Gilly Salmon’s Five Stage Model of E-Learning
(8) Pam Moule’s eLearning Ladder
(9) Diana Laurillard’s Conversational Framework
(10) Alessi and Trollip Design and Development Model

The following micro models of instructional design were dealt with during today’s class:

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(1) Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction
(2) Reigeluth’s Elaboration Theory(3) Component Display Theory
(4) First Principles of Instruction (David Merrill)
(5) ICARE Model (Dick and Carey)
(6) The Science of Instruction (Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer)
(7) Active Learning
(8) Six Thinking Hats Model
(9) Six Hats Instructional Model

The last part of the class was on the subject of VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments) and was delivered by Pauline Rooney.  I am interested in VLEs and in deploying MOODLE as the VLE of choice in the school that I work in.

Feelings

I very much enjoyed today’s class as I am interested in both Instructional Design Models and in VLEs.

Evaluation

The most important and popular macro models of instructional design are probably the ADDIE Model followed by the Dick and Carey Model.  However, as Damian pointed out, most of the models tend to be some variation of the ADDIE Model.  Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is still important in relation to instructional design at the macro level.

The most important and popular micro model of instructional design is probably Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction.

Analysis

For me, the delineation between macro models (for course design) and micro models (for lesson design) of instructional design was probably the most important outcome of today’s class.

Conclusions

There are a lot of models of instructional design!  It is interesting to note that Bloom (for macro) and Gagné (for micro) are still important players in the modern world of digital learning design.

Personal Action Plans

Study the materials on Webcourses during the week as there are a lot of instructional design models and a lot of detail involved.

M2-Week 3-Home

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 3)

The following is a reflection on the week immediately after the class that took place on Tuesday 8th November 2016 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Tuesday 8th November 2016 – AUNGIER STREET LIBRARY

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Description

Following a meeting of The Compostivists for 20 minutes after today’s class, I spent two hours in Aungier Street Library sourcing the 11 books on the Essential Reading List for Instructional Design.  I also discovered the following link to a PDF file describing a workshop called Storyboarding for Instructional Design:

Feelings

I was pleased with myself that I was able to get the library locations for all 11 books.  I had no training in how to do this and it had been over 20 years since I last used an academic library!  However, probably because I use computers so much, I found this very easy.

Evaluation

I created a ‘database’ of the locations of all 11 books by copying and pasting the relevant information from the Library database to Apple Notes on my iPad.  To do this, I had to access the Library database directly from my iPad rather than using a Library PC.  Later, I exported these Apple Notes to PDF format from my iMac by using the app TextEdit.  I then uploaded the PDF file to my website/ePortfolio so that I could easily access the information from anywhere.  Most of the 11 books are in the LTTC section of Bolton Street library.

Analysis

I wasn’t aware up until now that most of the books on the Module 2 Essential Reading List are to be found in Bolton Street Library.

Conclusions

It’s very easy to use the DIT Library information system!

Personal Action Plans

Go to Bolton Street Library and borrow 10 of the 11 books on the Module 2 Essential Reading List.  I already have one of the books.

Wednesday 9th November 2016 – BOLTON STREET LIBRARY

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Description

Today, I continued my odyssey through the various DIT campuses.  I had already been in Aungier Street, Kevin Street and Mountjoy Square so Bolton Street was my fourth DIT conquest!  Bolton Street College is 100 years old – you could feel the history.  There is a wall hanging, depicting the front of the college, installed in the large entrance hallway at the bottom of the staircase.  This was made by workers in the Stewart’s Hospital Centre in Lucan and it was officially ‘opened’ by the college president  in 2014.

Feelings

I felt excited about the prospect of reading these books!

Evaluation

I found and borrowed 10 of the 11 books on the Essential Reading List’.  This took about one hour.  The books are in the LTTC section of Bolton Street library.

Analysis

It seems that I can borrow the books for 30 days and then it is possible to continue to borrow them for another 30 days.  It is possible to renew the books remotely using my DIT account information.  It seems that I have to first create a Library PIN so it’s time that I created one.

Photos

Some photos of me and the borrowed books!

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Thursday 10th November 2016 – ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

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Description

I was anxious to learn more about instructional design since this is at the heart of Module 2 and also because this was one of my motivations for pursuing this Masters degree course.  So, I have decided that my first annotated bibliography will deal with this subject.  I read the following chapter from Carliner’s 2008 book which is on the ‘Essential Reading List’:

Carliner, S. (2008) A Holistic Framework of Instructional Design for eLearning. In S. Carliner & P. Shank (Eds.) The e-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges (pp.307-358). San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

Feelings

I always look forward to reading a book when I can do so in a leisurely fashion with no distractions.  Even though I have to write an annotated bibliography, I look upon reading this book as a pleasure rather than a chore.  This is good!

Evaluation

On page 358 of this book, Carliner writes:

“Consider these classic texts on instructional design:”

Dick, W., Carey, L. & Carey, J. (2000). The systematic design of instruction (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Smith, P.L. & Ragan, T.J. (2004). Instructional design (3rd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Reigeluth, C.M. (2009). Instructional-design theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory. (Vol II) Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

This begs the question “Why are none of these three books on either the ‘Essential Reading List’ or the ‘Supplemental Reading List’ of the Instructional Design and e-Authoring Module?”

Analysis

In this chapter, the author sets out a revised framework of instructional design that has three distinct components.  The first component is Design Philosophies and Theories which embraces the science and philosophy of how humans learn.  The second component is General Design Methodology that has two parts: identifying the size of the e-learning project as bronze (basic), silver (middle-of-the-road) or platinum (extensive) and then applying the ADDIE process.  The final component of the framework is Instructional Considerations which have three categories: general issues (including schedules and budgets), instructional approach (including mastery learning, discovery learning, gaming-simulation) and conventions (including bookmarking in tutorials, a break in a webinar).

Carliner concludes that a framework, which includes economic, technical, political, and philosophical issues as well as instructional issues, will broaden the discussion of design.  He advocates a move away from what he calls a “cookbook-like approach” (means) to an outcomes-based approach (end) in relation to design. In my opinion, this is a Machiavellian approach to design.  In other words, if the final design is good, it is immaterial how it was achieved.

Conclusions

Since the Dick and Carey book is considered a classic text on instructional design and also because these authors have been referred to on more than one occsion by Damian in class, I would like to read all of the following book at some juncture:

Dick, W., Carey, L. & Carey, J. (2000). The systematic design of instruction (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Saturday 12th November 2016 – MEETING 2 OF THE COMPOSTIVISTS

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The view from the Staff Room, DIT Kevin Street.

Description

On Saturday 12th November 2016, our group had its second meeting (F2F) in DIT Kevin Street, Dublin 2.

Feelings

The meeting had a relaxed feel but a very businesslike approach.  This was the second meeting so it was important that enough momentum be built at today’s meeting for the project to take off!

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Gerard Kilkenny and Michael McKeever in the Staff Room of DIT Kevin Street

Evaluation

Here are the minutes of the second meeting of The Compostivists:

Group Members:            Allesio Gemma, Gerard Kilkenny, Michael McKeever, Rachel Maguire

Group Project:                Composting

Meeting 2 (Date):            Saturday 12th October 2016

Meeting 2 (Location):    DIT Kevin Street, Dublin 2

The group convened for a second three hour F2F meeting to further consider and develop the group’s Instructional Design / eAuthoring project. The following summarises progress to date:

  • Storyboard Mk1 Microsoft PowerPoint file (developed by Allesio and Rachel)
  • Authoring Mk1 Adobe Captivate and Microsoft PowerPoint files (developed by Gerry)
  • Webcourses LMS Module (organised by Mick)

Note:     Allesio and Rachel decided to use Microsoft PowerPoint instead of Articulate Storyline for storyboarding.

The group reviewed Storyboard Mk1 mainly by referencing the ‘Site Plan’ (flow chart) contained in the Powerpoint Mk1 file. The group discussed, and ultimately agreed on, the merits of including the following revisions to Storyboard Mk2:

  • having an engaging launch to the Captivate lesson, in order to grab the students’ interest   and pull them in. This is called a lesson ‘hook’. This could be a short video or animation
  • having a short section, early in the Captivate lesson, on separating the different types of waste for grey bin, green bin, brown bin
  • the location and types of assessment (called ‘quizes’ in Captivate) within the Captivate lesson (assessment at the start for adaptive learning and assessment post-tutorial for summative assessment)
  • customising the background and ‘Actors’ (a feature of Captivate) used in the Captivate lesson for the two types of user:  child and adult
  • implementing adaptive learning by using the ‘branching’ feature of Captivate
  • having links from an ‘About the Group’ section to each group member’s ePortfolios.

The group made the following decisions:

  1. To create a Storyboard Mk 2 file to include the items outlined above (Allesio and Rachel)
  2. To investigate how to use the Captivate features ‘Actors’, ‘Branching’ and ‘Assessment’ (Gerry).
  3. To provide expert knowledge on composting for the Captivate lesson (Mick)
  4. To source appropriate digital content for the Captivate lesson (Allesio, Rachel, Gerry, Mick).

The group agreed to distribute work in progress, which will be new versions of the PowerPoint storyboards, Captivate lessons and digital content, via email. Communication will continue to be by email, WhatsApp and possibly by Webcourses to have a group meeting via videoconferencing later in the life cycle of the project.

Analysis

This was a good second meeting for our group.  We reviewed Storyboard Mk1 and made decisions on how we will arrive at Storyboard Mk2.

Conclusions

The group decided to wait until the second iteration of the storyboard is completed before having its next meeting which it is hoped will be a virtual meeting via Webcourses.

Personal Action Plans

Further learning with Adobe Captivate 9.

M2-Week 3-Class

Instructional Design & eAuthoring Module (Week 3)

The following is a reflection on the Tuesday morning class that took place on 8th November 2016 from 10:00 to 13:00 using Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Description

According to the hard copy Module Handbook 2016/17, today’s class was to address the following topics (and to include the guest lecturer Clare Gormley as well as Library colleagues):

  • eLearning Toolkit and reflection on experience as a past graduate(Clare Gormley)
  • Defining learning outcomes, defining activity within a resource
  • Using the Library for your annotated bibliography (Library colleagues)
  • Group elevator pitches (5 mins each)

In reality, the topics for today’s class were:

  • Personas
  • Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Learning Outcomes?)
  • The Universal Design Process
  • Models for Learning Design (ADDIE and the 7Cs)
  • The most important components of learning

All of the five topics were dealt with by Damian Gordon and none were delivered by Pauline Rooney.

eLearning Toolkit and reflection on experience as a past graduate was not dealt with today.  Clare Gormley did not appear today nor was any reference made to her.

Using the Library for your annotated bibliography was not dealt with today.  Library colleagues did not appear today nor was any reference made to them.

There were no Group elevator pitches (5 mins each) nor was any reference made to them.

The Personas section of today’s class was about the creation of fictional characters to guide your design.  Rather than designing your artefact for every possible user, the idea of personas is that you design for small number of fictional users.  These users can be illustrated as basic silhouetted figures of (say) a child, a grandmother, a disabled person, etc.  The need for personas was initially identified in the mid 1990s in the marketing sector, followed quickly by the software sector.  An example of a user profile for a particular persona could be:

Name: Susan Normal
Age: 18 years old
Size: 5’8″

The Learning Outcomes section of today’s class was an examination of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives that I had previously seen in Module 1 (Learning Theories).

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Bloom’s Taxonomy (from Bloom, 1956 to Anderson, 2001)

 

 

 

 

 

The three highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are:

Evaluation (Critical thinking)
Synthesis (Creativity)
Analysis

The three lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy are:

Application
Comprehension
Knowledge

Note 1:  Damian Gordon thinks that the three higher level learning objectives (above) are on the same level.
Note 2:  Damian Gordon doesn’t like the terms ‘lower order’ versus ‘higher order’.

The evolution from Bloom’s 1956 model to Lori Anderson’s 2001 model was progressed further in 2009 when Mike Fisher produced a learning tools version of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

http://digigogy.blogspot.ie/2009/02/digital-blooms-visual.html
https://www.diigo.com/profile/mikefisher821

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Bloom’s Taxonomy (Learning Tools Version – M Fisher, 2009)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Universal Design Process section of today’s class looked at the following stages:

The Discover Phase
The Definition Phase
The Development Stage
The Delivery Stage

The Models for Learning Design section of today’s class looked at the following two models:

(1) ADDIE Model for Learning Design (in which there are 5 phases):

Analysis
Design
Development
Implementation
Evaluation

Remarkably, it appears that the ADDIE model wasn’t specifically developed by any single author.

(2) The 7Cs of Learning Design (in which there are 7 phases):

Conceptualise (Vision)
Create (Activity)
Communicate (Activity)
Collaborate (Activity)
Consider (Activity)
Combine (Synthesis)
Consolidate (Implementation)

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The 7Cs is a Learning Design Workshop that evolved in 2012 from an older Open University Learning Design Initiative (OULDI) project for which Professor Grainne Conole was the lead investigator.  Since Professor Conole had at this stage moved to the University of Leicester, this institution was given the opportunity to trial and explore the OULDI resources as part of the initiative.

The Most Important Components of Learning section of today’s class looked at some of the findings of John Hattie’s (Australian Researcher) work.  Damian said that he is a ‘fan’ of John Hattie and that he has great time for him.

Damian referred to the following John Hattie’s publication:

Hattie, J. (2003). Teachers Make a Difference, What is the research evidence?.

Hattie found that feedback is the most important aspect of learning.  Here are the four most important aspects of learning according to Hattie’s research with the ‘Effect Size’ number after each:

Feedback (1.13)
Students prior cognitive ability (1.04)
Instructional quality (1.00)
Direct Instruction (0.82)

Feelings

I very much enjoyed today’s class even though only one of the four topics that were on the agenda for today – Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Learning Outcomes) – was actually delivered.  I felt that all of the areas that were covered were ‘taught’ very well by Damian.

Evaluation

Since today was Week 3, it was important that today’s class dealt with ‘Models of Learning Design’ (ADDIE and the 7 Cs) and ‘Personas’ to feed into the design of my group’s storyboard for our ‘Composting’ project.  However, I think that these should have been covered in last week’s class that was meant to gave dealt with ‘Storyboarding and Personas’.

Analysis

I prefer when a topic is covered with more depth and history.  The 7Cs of Learning Design is something that evolved over a couple of years into a workshop.  ADDIE is a model whereas the 7Cs is a workshop.  Moreover, the 7Cs workshop uses specific tools (e.g. Blackboard to collaborate) and nether this fact, nor any of the tools, were mentioned in today’s class.  In my opinion, the lectures in a Level 9 course should have more depth.  As a Maths teacher, one of the things that really improved my teaching was becoming extremely au fait with the history of mathematics in my early years of teaching.

Conclusions

It looks like there is going to continue to be misalignment between the classes as described in the hard copy Module Handbook 2016/17, the class itself and the Webcourses materials for the classes.  This is not trivial.  There are four components to the assessment.  It makes sense that if today’s class was to deal with using the Library for my annotated bibliography, then I would schedule time this week to go to the Library.  (The Library section never happened, Library staff never appeared and no reference to these facts were made by Damian and Pauline).  If last week’s class had dealt with personas (instead of this week), then it would have made sense to build on this during ‘homework’ by devoting the week to the storyboard aspect of the ‘Composting’ project.

Personal Action Plans

Source the 11 books on the Essential Reading List for Instructional Design.

Further reading on Instructional Design models (e.g. Dick and Carey).

Begin reading for, and writing, my annotated bibliographies.

 

Doctoral Workshop

Doctoral Workshop on Research in Digital Learning

The following is a description of the doctoral workshop jointly hosted by the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) and the new Institute of Education at Dublin City University (DCU) that took place on Wednesday 2nd November 2016 in the St. Patrick’s College, Dublin City University.

Description

Today, I attended a Doctoral Workshop jointly hosted by the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) and the new Institute of Education at Dublin City University (DCU).  This workshop was primarily designed for prospective doctoral students who are thinking about embarking on either an EdD or PhD in the general area of Digital Learning.  The purpose of the workshop was to:

• answer common questions prospective students have about doctoral study
• identify/discuss potential research topics in the general area of digital learning
• help prospective doctoral students learn how to prepare research proposals.

In the course of the workshop, approximately 30 participants (including me) had an opportunity to discuss how to select the right institution, the right supervisors, the right topic and the most appropriate doctoral study option for their own circumstances.  The workshop was opened by Professor Mark Brown who gave an interesting talk on why he pursued a career in educational research.  A number of his DCU colleagues from Education / Digital Learning were in attendance including Dr. Deirdre Butler, Dr. Enda Donlon, Dr. Eamonn Costello as well as Visiting Professor Gráinne Conole.

Feelings

Eventually, it came to my turn to describe the topics within digital learning that I may be interested in pursuing a PhD.  I was quite nervous as I understood that I would be speaking to a number of respected scholars in the field of digital education.  I explained to those gathered at the workshop that I was interested in both research and development in the areas of personalised learning and eAssessment.

Evaluation

Professor Gráinne Conole and Dr. Eamon Costello both suggested that I speak to Professor Vincent Wade (Trinity College, Dublin) as he is an expert in the area of personalised and adaptive learning.

Professor Mark Brown suggested that I have a look at Fish Tree, a US Company specialising in personalised learning software.  He also suggested that I might pursue an interdisciplinary PhD (Computer Science and Education) and consider using the Castel research centre in DCU.  He also said that I should read what Stephen Downes and George Siemens have to say about personalised learning.

Analysis

We were told that the new DCU Education Department based in a new purpose-built building in the St. Patrick’s College Campus was incorporated on 01/10/16 and consists of 130 Staff and Postgraduate Research Students and 12 Research Centres.  This new education department will be headed up by Charlotte Holland with the title Associate Professor, Education, Dublin City University.  Her email address is charlotte.holland@dcu.ie.

Conclusions

Professor Mark Brown was at pains to point out that the process of deciding what one’s research question should be is a lengthy one.  He repeatedly stated that prospective PhD students should refine their research proposals by having lots of discussions with numerous research staff.  It was interesting to hear that a PhD student can choose his/her External Examiner.