eLearning: Concepts, Usage and Tools

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e-Learning Concepts, Usage and Tools

• Martin Molhanec

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Abstract

• What is e-Learning?
• Concept of e-Learning.
• Usage of e-Learning.
• Tools for e-learning.

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Resources

• Malo, R., Motycka, A. eLearning solution at
  Mendel University in Brno. E3 Event, Roma 2003
• Marcel de Leeuwe
• http//www.e-learningsite.com/elearning/indelea.ht
  m
• William Horton Consulting, Inc.
• http//www.horton.com/html/whcstandardshandouts.as
  p
• Advanced Distributed Learning
• http//www.adlnet.gov/Scorm/

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E-learning, Web-based learning

• E-learning is mostly associated with activities
  involving computers and interactive networks
  simultaneously. The computer does not need to be
  the central element of the activity or provide
  learning content. However, the computer and the
  network must hold a significant involvement in
  the learning activity.
• Web-based learning is associated with learning
  materials delivered in a Web browser, including
  when the materials are packaged on CD-ROM or
  other media. disk.

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Online learning, Distance learning

• Online learning is associated with content
  readily accessible on a computer. The content may
  be on the Web or the Internet, or simply
  installed on a CD-ROM or the computer hard disk.
• Distance learning involves interaction at a
  distance between instructor and learners, and
  enables timely instructor reaction to learners.
  Simply posting or broadcasting learning materials
  to learners is not distance learning. Instructors
  must be involved in receiving feedback from
  learners.

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Synchronous learning

• Within synchronous learning learning and
  teaching takes place in real time (same time)
  while the trainer and learners are physically
  separated from each other (place shift).
• Examples include
• listening to a live radio broadcast
• watching live a television broadcast
• audio/video conferencing
• Internet telephony
• online lectures
• two-way live satellite broadcast

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Asynchronous learning

• Characteristic for asynchronous learning is the
  fact that that the trainer prepares the
  courseware material before the course takes
  place. The learner is free to decide when he
  wants to study the courseware
• Examples include
• self paced courses taken via Internet or CD-Rom
• videotaped classes
• stored audio/video Web presentations or seminars
• recorded audio tapes
• Q A mentoring
• reading e-mail messages

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Examples of asynchronous and synchronous learning
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Communication

• Different ways
• Within communication we distinguish different
  directions/ways to communicate
• one to one
• one to many
• many to one
• many to many

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One to one

• Situation
• Learner to learner
• Learner to trainer
• Trainer to learner
• Examples
• chat private chat in a chat room or the instant
  messenger
• e-mail send mail to a colleague or ask a
  question to a trainer
• screen sharing sharing Microsoft Word,
  collaborate on a Word document

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One to many

• Situation
• Trainer to learners
• Learner to learners
• Examples
• chat trainer is explaining content to learners
• video conference trainer is explaining content
  to learners via web broadcast
• screen sharing using the net for giving learners
  a tour through PowerPoint slides or web pages
• newsgroups posting a question in a newsgroup or
  discussion forum
• e-seminar lecture or presentation over the
  internet

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Many to one

• Situation
• Learners to trainer
• Learners to learner
• Examples
• chat ask or discuss real-time questions or
  issues to a learning desk
• newsgroup react on a posted message in a
  discussion forum

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Many to many

• Situation
• Learners to learners
• Learners to learners and trainers
• Examples
• chat discussion where learners can exchange
  learning experiences or just talk or a discussion
  led by trainers where students solve a case by
  collaboration through discussion
• two-way video conferencing virtual classroom
  situation where trainer explains and learners
  react or meeting where subjects can be discussed
• telephone conferencing

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e-Learning elements

• Text
• Picture/Image
• Animation
• Audio
• Video

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Text

• The alphabet, words, sentences, paragraphs. Text
  processing refers to the ability to manipulate
  words, lines, and pages.
• Size
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• Font
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
  dog The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
• Color
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
  dog The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

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Text

• The alphabet, words, sentences, paragraphs. Text
  processing refers to the ability to manipulate
  words, lines, and pages.
• Size
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• Font
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
  The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
  dog The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
• Color
• The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
  dog The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

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Pictures/images

• A picture or image is data represented in a
  two-dimensional scene. A digital image is
  composed of pixels arranged in a rectangular
  array with a certain height and width. Each pixel
  may consist of one or more bits of information,
  representing the brightness of the image at that
  point and possibly including color information
  encoded as RGB triples.

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Pictures/images

• A picture or image is data represented in a
  two-dimensional scene. A digital image is
  composed of pixels arranged in a rectangular
  array with a certain height and width. Each pixel
  may consist of one or more bits of information,
  representing the brightness of the image at that
  point and possibly including color information
  encoded as RGB triples.

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Animations

• An animation is a simulation of movement created
  by displaying a series of pictures, or frames.A
  cartoon on television is one example of
  animation.
• Animation on computers is one of the chief
  ingredients of multimedia presentations.
• Animations can be made with special techniques
  like Flash or with image applications like
  Photoshop and Fireworks and exported as animated
  GIF.

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Animations

• An animation is a simulation of movement created
  by displaying a series of pictures, or frames.A
  cartoon on television is one example of
  animation.
• Animation on computers is one of the chief
  ingredients of multimedia presentations.
• Animations can be made with special techniques
  like Flash or with image applications like
  Photoshop and Fireworks and exported as animated
  GIF.

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Audio

• Audio is sound within the acoustic range
  available to humans. On a computer an audio file
  is a record of captured sound that can be played
  back.
• Audio files are usually compressed for storage
  purposes or faster transmission. In order for
  users to receive sound in real-time for a
  multimedia effect, sound must be delivered as
  streaming sound. The advantage of streaming
  (instead of downloaded sounds) is that there is
  no waiting (or very little) from the time you
  click the mouse until you hear the sound. Well
  known formats are wave (.wav) , midi (.mid),
  MPEG, audio layer 3 (.mp3).

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Audio

• Audio is sound within the acoustic range
  available to humans. On a computer an audio file
  is a record of captured sound that can be played
  back.
• Audio files are usually compressed for storage
  purposes or faster transmission. In order for
  users to receive sound in real-time for a
  multimedia effect, sound must be delivered as
  streaming sound. The advantage of streaming
  (instead of downloaded sounds) is that there is
  no waiting (or very little) from the time you
  click the mouse until you hear the sound. Well
  known formats are wave (.wav) , midi (.mid),
  MPEG, audio layer 3 (.mp3).

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Video

• Video refers to displaying still images, in such
  a high speed that our mind interpreters the
  sequence of images as a movement. You can compare
  it with animation. The difference is the use of
  real images (pictures) and most of the time the
  number of frames per second is higher with video
  then with animations. The higher the number of
  frames per second, the more our eyes are
  interpreting the sequential as real 'movement'.

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Video

• Video refers to displaying still images, in such
  a high speed that our mind interpreters the
  sequence of images as a movement. You can compare
  it with animation. The difference is the use of
  real images (pictures) and most of the time the
  number of frames per second is higher with video
  then with animations. The higher the number of
  frames per second, the more our eyes are
  interpreting the sequential as real 'movement'.

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Creating eLearning documents I.

• Basic elements of own study text
• paragraphs
• tables
• pictures
• lists
• others objects (sound, video, )
• Main parts of eLearning document
• title
• basic information about document
• motivation, prerequisites, instructions, goals,
• chapters and sections
• test
• glossary
• literature

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Creating eLearning documents II.

• Basic elements of chapters
• goals of the chapter
• sections and subsections
• summary
• index of terms
• information sources
• question for thinking
• examples and results
• recommended elements
• eLearning documents are too long for manual
  creating
• set of elements which are necessary

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Learning Management System (LMS)

• Learning management system is software that
  deploys, manages, tracks and reports on
  interaction between learner content and between
  learner instructor. In particular, LMS performs
  student registration, tracks learner progress,
  records test scores, and indicates course
  completions and finally it allows trainers to
  assess the performance of their learners.
• Main features of an LMS
• Registration - enroll and administer learners
  online for web-based, instructor-led, and all
  other learning activities.
• Scheduling - schedule courses and define
  curricula to address individual and
  organizational learning needs. Also off-line
  resources can be included (classrooms, books,
  coaches etc.).
• Delivery - deliver online courses and assessments
  or schedule instructor-led courses.
• Tracking - track the progress of the learners and
  create reports.
• Communication - communicate by chat, discussion
  forum, mail, screensharing and e-seminars.
• Testing - test and assess competency, learning
  styles and student commitment.

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General requirements for LMS system

• Support of different possibilities of learning.
• Integration of solution in the context of IS
  firm.
• Wide administration range.
• Compatibility with standards.
• The support of the applications of the other
  suppliers.
• Possibility of using new technologies so called
  mobile communication.
• An access thanks web client.
• Other functions.

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Users and parts of LMS

• Two basic types of user
• students
• teachers
• LMS consists of three basic types application
• applications for learning (documents, examples)
• testing applications (test, checking of tests)
• support applications (notepad, discussion forum,
  chat)

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Student interface - functions

• Teaching part
• teaching materials
• solved examples
• lists of questions
• glossaries
• auto tests
• List of tasks and projects
• assignments and evaluations
• Communication tools
• message board
• chat
• discussion forum
• Other tools
• notepad
• links
• download section

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Teacher interface - functions

• Creating study materials and sources for studies
• own study materials
• glossaries, lists of terms, solved problems
• exercises, summaries
• links, recommended sources, ...
• Creating tests
• online test with automatic evaluation
• offline printed test
• Communication tools
• Assignments of projects and tasks to students

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Web tools
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E-learning creation tools
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Collaboration tools
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Media tools and converters
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Management systems
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Standards organizations
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Packaging standard
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AICC
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AICC (Aviation Industry CBT Committee)

• The AICC (Aviation Industry CBT Committee)
  develops guidelines for the aviation industry in
  the development, delivery, and evaluation of CBT
  and related training technologies.
• The objectives of the AICC are to
• assist airplane operators in development of
  guidelines that promote the economic and
  effective implementation of computer-based
  training (CBT)
• develop guidelines to enable interoperability
• provide an open forum for the discussion of CBT
  and other training technologies
• Although AICC primarily attends to the aviation
  industry, over 13 years focus on the
  specifications required to meet this industry's
  needs has led to a very well developed
  specifications for learning and particularly for
  computer managed instruction. As a result, a wide
  range of learning consortiums and accredited
  standards groups are in the process of adopting
  and adapting the AICC guidelines to their own
  industries.

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IMS
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IMS (Instructional Management System) Global
Learning Consortium

• The IMS (Instructional Management System) Global
  Learning Consortium is developing and promoting
  open specifications (no standards) for
  facilitating online distributed learning
  activities such as locating and using educational
  content, tracking learner progress, reporting
  learner performance, and exchanging student
  records between administrative systems.
• IMS has two key goals
• defining the technical standards for
  interoperability of applications and services in
  distributed learning
• supporting the incorporation of IMS
  specifications into products and services
  worldwide. IMS promotes widespread adoption of
  specifications that will allow distributed
  learning environments and content from multiple
  authors to work together.

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Communications standards
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Metadata standards
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IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee
(LTSC)

• One of the most important accredited standards
  bodies is IEEE Learning Technology Standards
  Committee (LTSC). This committee consist of over
  20 working groups who are covering a large
  far-reaching topics including learning object
  metadata, student profiles, course sequencing,
  computer managed instruction, competency
  definitions, localization, and content packaging.
  The mission of IEEE LTSC working groups is to
  develop technical Standards, Recommended
  Practices, and Guides for software components,
  tools, technologies and design methods that
  facilitate the development, deployment,
  maintenance and interoperation of computer
  implementations of education and training
  components and systems.

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Quality standards
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International Standards Organization (ISO)

• The IEEE LTSC has also recently initiated the
  move of this work to the full International
  Standards Organization (ISO) standards by
  establishing ISO Joint Technical Committee 1
  (JTC1) Sub Committee 36 (SC36) on Learning
  Technology. SC36 Develops International Standards
  in the areas of Learning, Education, and
  Training.
• ISO is a worldwide federation of national
  standards bodies from some 130 countries, one
  from each country. The mission of ISO is to
  promote the development of standardization and
  related activities in the world with a view to
  facilitating the international exchange of goods
  and services, and to developing cooperation in
  the spheres of intellectual, scientific,
  technological and economic activity. ISO's work
  results in international agreements, which are
  published as International Standards.

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Design standards
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Accessibility standards
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Learning object
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SCORM 2004

• SCORM is a collection of standards and
  specifications adapted from multiple sources to
  provide a comprehensive suite of e-learning
  capabilities that enable interoperability,
  accessibility and reusability of Web-based
  learning content.
• One of the primary forces behind changes to SCORM
  has been the evolution of the underlying
  specifications and standards in SCORM 2004
• IEEE Data Model For Content Object Communication
• IEEE ECMAScript Application Programming Interface
  for Content to Runtime Services Communication
• IEEE Learning Object Metadata (LOM)
• IEEE Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema
  Binding for Learning Object Metadata Data Model
• IMS Content Packaging
• IMS Simple Sequencing.

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Resume

• E-Learning
• It is not a cup of web pages! It is a complex
  learning environment!
• We need a possibility professionally to create
  our learning materials.
• We need a professional LMS system, which is
  compliment with all e-learning relevant
  standards.
• We need a money and peoples!
• And lot of optimism ?