eLearning

Poll of the week 9: With e-learning as a learning and teaching tool, who do you think benefits the most?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:05:00 +0000

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Based on this week poll result, the question of this poll which is "With e-learning as learning and teaching tool, who do you think benefits the most?". During this week result none of the respondent think that it's e-learning as learning and teaching tools most benefits is for instructor, parents and others. Because currently most of the people who using e-learning which is students and teacher/lecturer.

Generally, in this result from this week all the respondents are agree with e-learning as learning and teaching tools is more benefits for students as in 8 respondents 100%. Why they said so ? It is because e-learning is more convenient for students to learn something such as extra information and it can widen their extra knowledge in their life. Besides that, e-learning can grab student's attention because it's just not a text and it also has some graphic or photos which are related to the information. They would not get bored studying as the learning is more interactive and interesting. Furthermore, it also can help some of the students get more interest on IT and improve their IT techniques as well.

Computer lab for kids

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:26:00 +0000

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Source: The Star newspaper, Computer lab for kids, 13th of March 2010

Nowadays, its common to have computer lab at school. We even have computer labs in kindergarden schools. Almost all of us have personal computer at home as it becomes one of our needs in life. Unfortunately, there are some could not afford to buy one.

According to the news article, Avilion Hotel Group has generously donated three brand new computers to the children of Pertubuhan Kanak-kanak Yatim dan Miskin in Port Dickson (Malaysia). The children now have their own computer lab. Sharing is caring. Besides donating the three brand new computers, Avilion Hotel Group also gives some money to them. The total money of RM 5,724 which was raised from the Christmas charity sale of teddy bears is given to the home by the representative of the Avilion Hotel Group which is the managing director, Andre Jean Siebert. The children is so happy to have this "mini computer lab". The smiles on their face are priceless.

The founder of home, Pastor Paul Jegathesan is overjoyed by the generosity of the Avilion Hotel Group. Pastor Paul expresses his gratitude and is thankful to the Group. He said that the hotel has been very supportive as for the past few years, the Group has been helping them a lot and there is no word that could express how they feel.

Not only that, Pastor Paul also said that the children that stays in the home were basically came from abusive background homes, losing their parents and so on. The children of Pertubuhan Kanak-kanak Yatim dan Miskin could not do this on their own as they need the government support as well as others to help the kids to live a new life. The three new computers will be used as a teaching and learning tool for the children. They will be useful for the children. The children could use the computers for the school projects purpose or to play educational games. Pastor Paul also said that the children need a volunteer computer teacher so that the children would at least have the basic knowledge about the computer skills. With the basic skills of the computer, the children could do their homework and projects with the use of the computers. The computers would be beneficial to the children as computing skills are necessary nowadays. Well, they could access to e-learning courses which are free too. There are a lot of free websites that provide good e-learning courses. The children could go for e-learning courses to improve and widen their knowledge.

In our opinion, sharing things together is a good deed not only in term of food, drinks and money but also in term of education. We share knowledge with each other to build up our education system in our country. If everyone is selfish, the world will not going to improve as everyone is living in their own life. Education is very important. It helps to upgrade the person's life and also the world.

The below short video clip is about how the World Wide Web (WWW) has changed the world. It also tells how much education has changed.

Video clip source: youtube, Learning and Motivation in the 21st Century [Online], Retrieved on Wednesday, 17th of March 2010
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6GUx1Zx0w&feature=related

References:

- CHITRA S. NATHAN, thestar, Computer lab for kids [Online], Retrieved on Wednesday, 17th of March 2010,
URL: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/3/13/central/5847524&sec=central

- youtube, Learning and Motivation in the 21st Century [Online], Retrieved on Wednesday, 17th of March 2010
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6GUx1Zx0w&feature=related

The Features and Benefits of eLearning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:43:00 +0000

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Hi, readers!

Today we are gonna to talk about the Features and Benefits of eLearning. This topic basically covers up the information about the functions and advantages of eLearning.

Features of eLearning

Learning is self-paced and gives lecturers and students an opportunity to speed up or slow down the process of using eLearning. Its is a self-directed functioning where it allows students to choose any content and learning tools to their different interests, needs and skill levels.

It also accommodates multiple learning styles by using a variety types of delivery methods for learners, it would be more effective to some learners. eLearning is designed to accommodates around the learners for its easy usage. It is learned that in eLearning, geographical barriers are being eliminated and opening up broader ways of education options to learners. 24 hours in 7 days accessibility of eLearning makes learners' schedule easy and allows a large number of people to get motivated on education.

eLearning offers the option of on-demand access whereby learners can learn and have a quicker access to eLearning whenever they like for education purpose or seek for sources. Learners also enable to save up some unnecessary cost of travel time and associated costs such as parking, fuel, vehicle maintenance and toll charges just to get to a bookstore or library to get sources and reading materials. Overall eLearning also be able to save up students cost and parents expenses for tuition fees, books and time. eLearning can save up time and associated costs, hence it is convenient and easy to access. It also enhance the communication and interaction process between students and lecturer throughout application provided by eLearning. It also draws upon hundreds of years of established pedagogical principles. It also attracts the most attention from major colleges and universities in the world for their most outcome online degrees, professional certificates and individual part time courses. Furthermore, it enhance learners' learning progression and computing skills.

Benefits of eLearning

There are many significant advantages lies beyond eLearning. It would be greater advantage for students to learn online. eLearning is convenient and portability as long there is a network connection. Online courses that uses eLearning are accessible based on our schedule and free time. Its is 24/7 accessibility with just few clicks. eLearning also does not require physical attendance. Besides that it is self-paced and organized which enable users to go not too slow or too fast using eLearning. Users also enable to absorb the sources and learning materials easier and comfortable due to its structure in eLearning is being organized. Users also are unbound by location and time as users can have 24/7 access and be able to study anywhere whenever there is a network connection.

Users also enable to read materials and seek for sources online and download them to be read later. Users and students also save up a large cost on associated costs. eLearning enables users to choose from a wide range of courses to meet their needs and wants such as degree courses, vocational, certified professional courses and diploma courses. Its flexibility. eLearning accommodates users' preference and needs whereby students are being centered. It is one of the option being offered in self-study online. Users also enable to skip over chapters on a reading material and focus on the particular chapter to study as eLearning enable users to find the chapter through clicks and not through flips of pages.

Do you know that eLearning is one of the act of high retention on education? It is learned that online learning enable users to draw to topics they like and enjoyed. Research shows that due to variety of delivery methods being offered in eLearning to reach different types of learners, retention is always better than studying traditional ways. eLearning creates greater collaborations, interactions and communications among students, users and lecturers. Users also enable to avoid face-to-face in order to earn skills and education (students avoid face-to-face lecturers). eLearning is just at users' fingertips with online learning and computing skills. eLearning requires computing skills and not physical skills.

Reference:

Worldwidelearn, eLearning Essentials [Online], Retrieved on Tuesday, 16th of March 2010

URL: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning-essentials/elearning-benefits.htm

eLearning in Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:41:00 +0000

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Nowadays, eLearning is the most rapid growth on Malaysia between it is a web-based technologies and higher usage of Internet. Besides that, Universities in Malaysia have responded actively to challenge this and ministry of education's strategies want to enhance people who use eLearning. Other then that, eLearning also is the latest evolution in corporate education and training for user. The first electronic supplement was computer-based training, delivered via CD-ROM to individual PCs or local area networks. The rise of web led to web-based training, courseware developed specially for delivery via the internet or intranet. Intranet is a private computer network that uses internet protocol technologies to securely share any part of an organization's information or operation systems. furthermore, the term intranet also uses to contrast internet.

Obviously, in Malaysia are slowly to use eLearning for teaching such as primary school, secondary school, College and Universities as well. Based on the research, currently 20 public Universities & Universities-College, Private Universities & Universities College and at last almost over 600 private College in Malaysia. Since 2004, Malaysia start planning eLearning on all the eduacation between this technology also able to provide interactivity and active learning. E-learning also is a small library for user. Why I said so? It's because all the video, audio, diagram and graphic we can find on eLearning to get the information between it's also convenient to sharing the information. Besides that, eLearning also easy for teacher to teaching on class and can easily to catch all the students attention on it.

Lastly, government is trying to give a better environment for students studying between eLearning are not really to replace that traditional teaching way. Furthermore, it also is a good teaching tool for teachers to use to grabbing students attention during their teaching.

References:
-Seven Steps of Elearning & Elearning in Malaysia[Online], Retrieved on Sunday, 14th of March 2010,

URL: http://quinnovation.com:8000/EnhancedIDWP.pdf

Tips on how to improve e-learning

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:54:00 +0000

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As what we have discussed in one of our previous posts on the result of what is the respondent thought on what feature is needed to be added in order to make e-learning interesting, today's post will be on the tips on how to improve the e-learning education.

There will be a few tips on how to improve e-learning.

In this era, E-learning has changed a lot of people's life. Most of the people now go for e-learning courses because it is convenient, available for 24 hours and so on. There will always be feedback and comments on users who use e-learning. The developers of the website and the instructors will then think of various ways to improve the e-learning to make it accessible to various type of users so that everyone can access to e-learning courses. It is like when you first time baking a cake and you give your friends to taste it, they then give you feedback about the taste and it seems that it did not turn out to be good feedback, so you will then try to figure out what is the problem and try to improve your baking skills. You will keep on trying until you receive good feedback. This is just like how website developers want to improve their websites after getting a lot of comments from users.

The first tips will be to consider the technology requirements used by the learners

Everyone uses different hardware, software and connection method. So, programmers and instructors should work closely together to plan what type of hardware, software and connection method that their target audience will use. For an example, not everyone has updated their browser version and programmers should consider to make the website to be best supported for almost all version of browsers. Besides, if learners want to download the notes but need to wait for an hour because of the connection speed, instructors should categorized the file properly. Not only that, instructors could either make it readable online or download the notes to read it offline. Programmers and instructor should think their learner's convenience. Apart from that, instructors should also keep the font of the text used simple. The font used like Arial, and Times New Roman are common font where they are readable on the screen. Not everyone can support other type of fonts. Instructors should also consider choosing the font that everyone's computer system have. There is no point downloading the notes when the font of the text could not read and appear to be all different type of characters. Therefore, it is advisable to use font that is available in almost all of the computer system and commonly used.

The second tips will be to motivate learners

This is where the instructors need to upgrade and improve the teaching style. Instructors need to come out with interesting way of teaching and not the dull way to motivate learners to learn. We know this is like a common tip or guideline where everyone knows but it is a very important tips. Instructors need to think of various way to motivate learners and know their needs. The way to motivate the learners is different in a traditional way of learning which is in classroom and in e-learning environment. In e-learning environment, instructors need to put a lot work and effort to make the course designs presentable in an interesting and creative way so that it will motivate the learners to learn. Do the learners prefer the visual design type or the information design type ?

Visual design is where there will be a lot of images and graphics when presenting the information for the learners. For information design, it is where there will not be much of images and graphics and there will be a lot of words in the content. The whole notes will be full of description of the information.

1) Visual design type- with a lot of graphics

Image source: dashboardspy [Online], Retrieved on Saturday, 13th March 2010,
URL: http://dashboardspy.com/dashboards/45/executive-dashboards-in-performance-improvement-frameworks

2) Information design type- with a lot of words

Image source: indezine [Online], Retrieved on Saturday, 13th of March 2010,
URL: http://www.indezine.com/articles/dumpthattext01.html

In our opinion, does anyone really read all the text on the power point slide? Well, they are probably some people but not all. Putting too much of information in one slide will make it looks dull and not interesting. This will demotivate the learners to continue reading the following slides. They will not pay attention on the slides. Information design type is where there will the design will be text-based design. It is easy to create where the instructors will just type in the information but it will make the learning to be boring. Learners will not have the interest to read the information.

Moving on, putting more pictures, video clips, interesting layout and so on will grab the learners' attention. Well, people love to see colourful things. Instructors may need to put more related graphics according to the information for the learners to see because it is easy to understand and it will make the learning more interesting. In e-learning, it is advisable that instructors need to put more effort to motivate the learners to learn and understand by giving creative and attractive notes. The graphics and images must be relevant to the content. Notes which are full of words may seem to be informative but learners need to be very concentrate in order to read the notes. Overload information will demotivate the learners to continue reading the rest of the notes.

The third tips will be adding mini games

Image source: imlaudienceresponse [Online], Retrieved on Saturday, 13th of March 2010,
URL: http://www.imlaudienceresponse.com/products/quizzes/interactive-quizzes.html

Well, putting some mini games like quizzes will make learning more interactive and interesting. Learners can take the quiz test before subscribing to online classes to see which chapters you are weak at and emphasize on that particular topic. Not only that, the objective to put some mini games is to make learning fun and not dull. Inserting some mini games like SUDOKU will also test their strategies in solving problem. This will also help them to improve their thinking skills. Courses like Maths require very good thinking skills as there will be a lot of tricky questions. Try to put quizzes on every chapters to let the learners take the quiz to see whether or not they understand the particular chapter. Well, make sure there will be feedback given after the quiz section.

References:
-Lee Ann Obringer, howstuffworks, How E-learning works [Online], Retrieved on Saturday, 13th of March 2010,
URL: http://communication.howstuffworks.com/elearning9.htm

Avelyn

Poll of the week 8 : What makes e-learning effective?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:18:00 +0000

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There are total number of 8 voters for this week poll. Based on the above pie chart, it is so obvious that 100% of the respondents which is all of the voters voted "24 hours availability."

Most of the voters voted 24 hours availability as they find that e-learning is accessible whenever they need the sources. They can access it anytime and anywhere they want. There is no limitation of downloading files or overtime when user access to e-learning. The negative side of having e-learning was when the server down or under renovation, it will affect the progression of accessing into e-learning.

Students and lecturers can search for sources anytime they want nor even during their free time or peak hours. For example, a student can search for reading materials during the midnight although he or she just got back home from a movie or supper.

E-learning also enable students and lecturers interact or upload files anytime and anywhere they want as long as there is an internet access as e-learning requires internet access in order to proceed to search for files and sources.

Summary: Students and lectures or the public find e-learning useful because it is 24 hours availability and they enable to upload or search for sources anytime they want to. It is convenient for them to arrange their schedule time.

E-Learning initiative in Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:40:00 +0000

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Basically, Malaysia discussion, debate and deliberation on eLearning such as an option to enhance traditional classroom face-to-face training are being widely encouraged and promoted by the government and by private organization. Besides that, eLearning does not mean that to replace traditional classroom face-to-face teaching but rather then complement it. However, the purpose of positioning Malaysia to meet the challenges of the knowledge economy, the government has promote promoted eLearning at both the policy and infrastructure level. In general, pioneering eLearning initiatives and support in Malaysia can be divided into initiative taken by:

-Educational institutes

-Government organizations

Educational institutes

Actually, developing a country into a fully developed nation by the year 2020, Malaysia has developed the national philosophy as the national guidelines and country's aspiration of unity and development. The Malaysian education policy is the transformation of national philosophy. The main focus of the policy is on improving quality and increasing the quantity of out-put to meet the manpower as well to produce citizens who are disciplined and have high moral values and good work ethics. The policy is designed to: equip student with the essential skills in a holistic and integrated manner, in order to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually,emotionally and physically balanced ; as well as functionally literate; inculcate and nurture national consciousness by promoting common ideas,values, aspiration and loyalties.

Government organization

one government organization that has embarked on eLearning initiatives is the national institute if public administration(INTAN), the training center for civil servants, where it working on accounting-modules. all civil servants are eligible for the training.

-educational institutes

-government organizations

Educational institutes

Government organization

Reference:
-definingelearning, Internet Based [Online], Retrieved on Friday, 28th of February 2010
URL: http://www.ktak.gov.my/template03.asp?tt=news&newsID=273

Poll of the week 7: Do you think e-learning is right for you?

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:04:00 +0000

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Here is the result from last week poll question.

There is a total of 7 voters all together. Based on the above pie chart, it obviously shows that more than half of the respondents which is 5 voters, 71% of the respondents voted 'Maybe'. There are 2 voters, 29% of the respondents voted 'No'. It shows that none of the respondent voted 'Yes' as their answer.

Apparently, it seems that most of the respondents are not sure whether or not e-learning is right for them. Why? This is probably because they have yet experienced how e-learning is really works in the education system. Internet was developed around the 90's and was popular used around 1990s whereby during that period of time, most of us were taught at school with the use of textbooks. The technology during 1990s was not really advanced yet. Now, we are all engaging to high technologies machines and tools. Respondents are now engaging to blending learning where e-learning and traditional way of learning are both used as a learning and teaching tool at school. So, they are probably not clear yet whether or not e-learning is right for them.

Moving on, there are two respondents who are clear whether or not e-learning is right for them. It seems that e-learning is not right for them. This is probably because they are very clear that the old way of learning is right for them rather than e-learning. They prefer to get education in the traditional way of learning environment. Not only that, not everyone is computer literate. E-learning needs good basic skills on how to use the hardware and software. So, it is necessary to have basic skills on how to use the hardware and software in order to get education using e-learning. Not only that, they probably prefer to get education in blending learning environment rather than just e-learning. They prefer to have discussion in class rather than just through chat box services in Internet or e-mail. Not only that, they prefer to have interactivity class in the traditional classroom rather than in the chat box.

It seems that none of the respondent think that e-learning is right for them. This is because they have probably already tried e-learning and they thought that e-learning is not right for them. Besides, they probably used to the blending learning or the traditional way of learning and may not want to switch to e-learning.

Summary: Well, different people will have different preference on how they will get their education. It is still depends on the quality of the distribution of knowledge.

Japanese Learning tools

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:36:00 +0000

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Hi readers!

Today's topic will be a little special from our previous post. Today, we will be discussing on the Japanese learning tools.

This topic would be an advantage to those students or interested viewers who would like to master the learning of Japanese language. Why do we say so? Because today's topic gonna share about online learning on Japanese language. As we have seen that there are minority of people in the society would like to learn and master Japanese language as an additive to their life surroundings. To foreigners who would like to learn Japanese language usually as their third language preference. It would be an advantage as foreigners who master Japanese language enable to work and study in Japan.

Well, country like Japan will need a very basic requirement that is the learning of Japanese language in order to be able to work and study in Japan. It would be a compulsory. User can save cost and time on learning Japanese language as tertiary language through this link : www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html. As nowadays people tend to reach to the cyber world in seconds, therefore online learning on Japanese language would be suitable for all online users.

Throughout this link, www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html, it enable user or learner to learn japanese language from English to Japanese or Japanese to English. Some of the websites in the net enable user to translate Japanese language to different types of language preference for their self-understanding. Some of the language websites also provides feature such as translator, dictonaries, podcasts, and sound translator in Japanese language. For more information, user can refer to this link for further enhancement : www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html

Reference

- japaneselanguagelearningtoolsonweb, Japanese-english, English-Japanese dictionaries [Online], Retrived on 2nd of March 2010
URL: http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html

Internet Based Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:11:00 +0000

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Hi readers!

The growth in the Internet has now make e-learning becomes more interesting and unique in term of the deliverance of information. There are several important criteria in using e-learning and one of the most important is the deliverance of information via a computer with the use of Internet access and so on. It is not easy to create a web-based learning.

Web-based learning also known as online learning is where a server or the host of the computer is connected to the World Wide Web (WWW). Basically, the whole deliverance of information is through the use of high technologies tool like electronic hardware and also the use of software. People can always get their education online as long as the host of the computer is linked to the World Wide Web (WWW). It is not easy to create an e-learning website because in order to create good websites, programmers, professional instructors and other professional people need to cooperate with each other to manage the website. If the e-learning website clashes and instructors do not know what is the problem, they need to contact the programmers to fix the website. Not only that, instructors need to make the e-learning education to be as interactive as possible in order to grab the attention of the viewers. People will not want to access to the e-learning website if the whole learning process is not interactive.

Reference:
-definingelearning, Internet Based [Online], Retrieved on Friday, 28th of February 2010
URL : www.skagitwatershed.org/~donclark/hrd/elearning/define.html

Poll of the week 5 & 6 : How to make e-learning interesting?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:01:00 +0000

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Poll of the week 5 & 6: How to make e-learning interesting?

Basically, e-learning is one of the interesting ways for people to study because nowadays, in our new generation all the people are hoping to try something new as in using e-learning to teach students. So, how to make e-learning interesting?

Based on this week poll result, we have 14 respondents. 7 voters, 50% of the respondents voted on adding mini games such as quizzes and another 7 voters, 50% of the respondents voted on others as their answer. Other then that, none of the respondent voted on add attractive visual interface because most of their computers could not support flash. So, if they want to view it they have to install or update flash on their computer and sometime the updates will clash their computer if they did not update it properly.

Now, we are talking about the 50% of the respondents who voted for adding mini games as in quizzes in this poll question. Mini games is one of the interactive feature that can be added in e-learning. The purpose of adding mini games is to let students to answer the quizzes based on what they have learned and to test them whether or not they understand the particular chapter. Besides that, it is not necessary must be quizzes, it also can be some cross words puzzle. This mini game can help them to brainstorm how to solve the questions. For example, the Sudoku game, it is a game that helps the students to train their math and thinking skills. Sudoku game can help the students to think about strategies and solution. This will make their thinking skills to grow better.

Not only that, another 50% respondent voted others because some of the students probably preferred to have videos and pictures together with mini games at the same time. Besides, they probably also thought of adding more information on the particular topic.

Traditional way of learning vs e-learning II

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:02:00 +0000

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Hi readers!

Did you read the previous post on the differences between traditional way of learning and e-learning in term of the convenience factor? Click here if you have not read it.

So, today's post will be on the comparison of the cost between traditional way of learning and e-learning. According to our research, we found that e-learning is much more affordable than the traditional way of learning. Why do we say so?

Traditional way of learning

For those IT training courses, students are basically involved in Information and Technology (ICT) whereby there is a need to use a computer to study and learn. Therefore, schools need to provide them lab facilities whereby there will be computers for them to use. Classroom training is a very costly business venture. It requires experienced instructors, fully equipped labs, full-time staff to look after the labs and to arrange the schedules of the students. It is expensive as computers,hardware and software are really expensive. It is not just five or six computers but 100 or even more of computers need to be fixed in labs for the students to use. Nowadays, people are engaging to Information and Technology(ICT) where technologies are almost everything in their life.

In this case, students will not show up for class if there is insufficient of resources. If the IT class is not interesting, students will skip class or even sleep in the class as there is no practical work but just theoretically work which is boring. Besides, in order the students to understand more on what their instructor is teaching, they need printed course materials like textbooks or lab manuals to guide them. Students that are IT illiterate need lab manuals and tutorials a lot to guide them. These kind of resources are expensive. Tuition fee for IT courses are expensive as the resources fee are expensive as well. It often representing almost around 10% of the course cost. IT courses cost will cost approximately around RM1370 to RM17,000(roughly) or even more depending on subject covered, the duration of the course and the expertise of the instructor. Students will attend lab classes two or three times in a week for the practical learning and the rest of the time will be in classroom for the theoretically studies. One week, students will attend 3-5 days of classes. Students will have to pay for the traveling money and so on. The cost of the IT courses will probably get up till more than RM20,000.

E-learning

Generally, we always thought that web-based training is higher in term of cost compared with traditional classroom training. A lot of people think that the more the students interactive with other students with the use of computers, the greater the cost is right? Students share their opinions with their classmates or their instructors through chat services. However, the cost of the classroom training is generally almost the same with e-learning courses.

Students nowadays are almost all IT literate. So, students that are very good in computers do not really need to go for IT courses in traditional classroom training as they could find 2% to 3% less of the cost of the classroom training online. For example, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) click here program. It offers a lot of courses like Management Training, IT and Software Development and etc. This is where students could learn how to design, configure, install and troubleshoot the network systems. This type of web-based training is usually where the notes or tutorials can be downloaded online or streaming media. The costs range from $100 to $500 equivalent to RM340 to RM1,700 (roughly) depending duration of the course and the subject that will be covered online. It is extremely unbelievable but it is true that the price is cheaper than traditional classroom training.

References:

- studyworld, MCSE The Complete Guide Series [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 25th of February 2010,

URL:http://www.studyworld.com/books/study_guide/mcse_microsoft_certified_system_engineer_exam.htm

- measureup, MCSE Training [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 25th of February 2010,
URL:http://www.measureup.com/Site/display_article.aspx?AudienceID=&id=974

Avelyn

Podcast: eLearning for KIDS (Bahasa Malaysia version)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:58:00 +0000

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Hi readers!

Today, we will be posting a podcast entitle eLearning for KIDS in Bahasa Malaysia version. The podcast on eLearning for KIDS were taken from previous post. Readers can read them by clicking on the following link : here

Podcast:

Duration: 3 minutes and 51 seconds
(Please click the play button to listen to the podcast)

Translation in English version:

Greetings, let me intoroduce myself,i'm James Chai. Its my turn to post a podcast. Today I will share about eLearning for KIDS. This topic would be most favourable to kids and as well to parents and guardians.

Do you know that, excessive video games would not help in learning and developing for kids. However, parents can guide their kids with the usage of digital technology to help kids in the form of learning and thinking. For example, parents can learn about using learning tools in a form of digital technology to help their kids. E-learning for kids is one of the best way to improvise the stage of learning in the process of learning for kids. It is one of the internet courses for kids that wish to improvise their skills and learning. E-learning also helps kids in mastering or understanding the basic of reading, sciences, mathematic, and computer. Nowadays, we are in the world of cyber technology where kids need to learn about the usage of computer and learning tools for future usage. Parents can motivate their kids with the helps of searching websites that provide resources of e-learning for free.

Websites can provide different types of learning courses in the form of online and offline. These courses created mainly for kids between 5 to 12 years old. Websites such as www.aaastudy.com provides math tutorials for free for kids that wanted to improvise their Mathematic skills. Do you know that, "practice make perfect?" AAA Mathematic various types of programs that can attract kids' attention.

Besides that, one of the program is online games. Online games in the form of e-learning can help kids to be more alert and sensitive. E-learning games are interactive and educational. Moreover, parents plays an important roles in engraving kids education. With the use of interactive learning tools provided for kids, kids can interact and learn about words and work hard in answering questions.

I would like to end the sharing of information till here. If readers would like to know more information, please keep track with our blog on the following link www.ee-learning.blogspot.com.

Thank you.

Podcast: The Pros of e-learning (电子商务学习的优点)

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:04:00 +0000

Link to us:http://snipr.com/podtwo

Click here to download the podcast.
podcast
Click here to play the podcast.

Translation Script

Hello everyone, I am Brandy, today i am going to talk about The Pros of e-learning (电子商务学习的优点)

(0.00-0.08)

First of all, we will be highlighting on the 3 important points of the pros of e-learning which are convenient, time and cost.

It is convenient to all the students during study, they can study anywhere no matter at night or morning if there is internet access provided. Self-paced is studying by their own. For the students who are slow learners, they can use the e-learning to fix it. Besides, students can read or download from internet. They can also discuss homework without using the phone.

(0.09-1.14)

Apart from that, time is another advantages from e-learning because student do not need to worry about the traffic jam problem and do not need to waste time going to the library to search for information they want. The important thing is they can concentrate on their study with the use of e-learning. E-learning is provided 24 hours service. Students can always pick the time to study as their want.

(1.15-1.58)

Other then convenient and time, student can still save their cost. They can save the transportation fees and fees from text book and so on. On the other hand, studying online can also satisfies the students. Other than that, deforestation is getting serious nowadays, we must save trees in order to make our Earth greener. By using e-learning, it can save our environment.

(1.59-3.00)

Thank you !

(3.01-3.03)

Glossary

1. e-learning-电子商务

2. Self-paced-自定步调

Podcast: 800 laptops for Year 6 teachers (Chinese Version)

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:30:00 +0000

Link to us: http://snipr.com/podone

Hi readers!

Today's post will be a little bit different from our previous posts. Today, we will be posting a podcast where the content will be from one of our previous post and will be in Chinese version. If you want to know what is happening on Malaysia education, you may want to read or listen to the news. The title of the news is "800 laptops for year 6 teachers".

Well, this podcast is about the planning on giving out 800 free laptops for to year 6 teachers starting from February, which is this month.

Click the play button to listen to the podcast.

Here is the link for you to download and listen to it:
podcast
Duration: 2 minutes and 2 seconds

English Translation Script

Music starts

(0.01-0.09)

Hi everyone, I am Avelyn. Today, I will share with you all on a news about free laptops for teachers in Malaysian schools. Starting from this month, state government will give out 800 free laptops to teachers who are teaching Year 6 students.

(0.10-0.26)

What is the main reason for giving out 800 free laptops to the teachers?

(0.27-0.30)

Well, Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said that the state government wanted to boost up the students' academic performance in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) with the use of e-learning as a teaching and learning tool. In our opinion, instead of using textbooks which will just harm the trees again, why not using e-books? Hey, we could save thousands of trees and feel good about saving the earth right?

(0.31-0.50)

Not only that, teachers should set a good example by start using e-books to teach but how are they going to start using it? To go for training? Yes, teachers would undergo training courses to upgrade themselves on how to use the e-learning tools in class.

(0.51-1.05)

Besides, there was a discussion going on between the state government and Intel Corporation Malaysia regarding about the project. The state government wanted all the teachers' laptops to install a software program which will enable the teachers to monitor their students' laptops. Why? So, students could not open the e-textbook of another subject while the teacher is teaching English.

(1.06-1.25)

The cost will be very high as Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said that it would reach up millions of ringgit. The state government has seen the programme as a very important aspect to improve the learning by e-book project.

(1.26-1.40)

Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said again that his vision is for the future generation in the state to be IT-savvy. So, do you think we should all work together for one mission and one vision which is to help our future generation to be IT-savvy.

(1.41-1.58)

Thank you.

(1.59-2.00)

Music ends: (2.01-2.02)

Glossary

1.Laptops=笔记本电脑

2.E-book=电子图书

3.Intel Corporation=英特尔公司

4.State Government=州政府
5.Mission=任务

6.Vision=目标

7.IT Savvy=科技精明

If you want to read on the article of the news, you can click [here].

E-learning in school

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:16:00 +0000

Hi readers! First of all, happy valentine's day and happy chinese new year!

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/uczxo

Click on the play button to listen to the speech synthesizer.

Image Source: worldbankyouthinkblog [Online], Retrieved on Sunday, 14th February 2010

URL: http://youthinkblog.worldbank.org/files/youthinkblog/maria1.jpg

E-learning is basically for teachers to take the advantages of internet revolution in sharing information with others and communication as well. Nowadays, students are expecting too much. They expect the teaching to be both academic and administrative services with interactive learning between students and instructors. Now, in Malaysia's secondary schools, instructors start to use high technology machines of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a teaching and learning tools. E-learning training is usually self-paced. In secondary schools, e-learning is where there is high interactivity between students and instructors. Students can access to e-learning anytime and anywhere. Students that live in the rural areas will also have the opportunity to use e-learning as computers and internet are not easily found and available in this kind of area. Students have to depend on the facilities at school provided by the government. There is limited access in the rural area as the area is not developing that much.

Besides, nowadays, students could access to internet in the library. Students can revise their homework with the use of computers in the library. Students can always find updated information in the internet as content is always updated. Instructors can easily update and delete the information anytime. With this, students will always have the latest and updated information. It creates interesting and fun environment of learn and teach between instructors and students. Students can easily download notes, tutorials questions, test questions and exam questions via e-learning. The materials can be accessed as long as the owner allows the students to access to the system to download it.

Since e-learning is also a web-based learning, it provides easier way of learning for the students. Students can use e-learning anytime. They can do their revisions online and send their assignments through e-mail to their instructors. Instructors won't be available all the time but if the e-mail is sent to the instructor's mailbox, the maill will not get lost unless instructors had deleted the mail. Instructors will read the mail when they are free. E-learning helps to lighten up instructor burdens. Instructors can create interesting presentation to make students to learn in a fun way so that it is not boring. By doing so, students in the rural areas could lead the life like other students in the town area. Although they live in the rural areas, they can still engage to the Information Communication Technology (ICT) system. This help the education system in Malaysia to be better.

References:

-elearningformanagementsystemforsecondaryschoolinMalaysia [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 14th of February 2010,

URL:http://eprints.usm.my/10941/1/E_Learning_Management_System_for_Secondary_School_in_Malaysia_%28PP_Sains_Komputer%29%29.pdf

The Cons of e-learning

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:49:00 +0000

Link to us: http://snipr.com/ucogs

Click on the play button to listen to the speech synthesizer.

Based on the previous post, we already discussed some pros of e-learning such as Convenient and Time, Cost. So, now it’s time to discuss some of the Cons of e-learning. Based on our opinion, some of the disadvantages will selected to discuss with all of you.

Access User want to use e-learning and they have to use a computer and access the internet as well. Furthermore, user also needs to have some computer skill in using it e-learning such as words processing, internet browser and e-mailing. If the connection is slow it also will make user trouble and difficult to use. Then, it causes the user to get frustrated and will give up as well. As in when a person are using e-learning and the connection slow and the person keep on waiting the browser so it waste the time on waiting. At last the person will give up on waiting it then off the computer as well.

High motivation E-learning may require time to complete all the work as in assignment or some kind of interactive collaborations. Which mean that user have to be high motivate on their work. If they in low motivated they may not be complete all the assignments on time.

Software and files E-learning is managing computer files software comfort ability and learning new software, including e-Learning. If user does not have a skill to organize with good computer its may lost or misplaced to downloaded some files or folder.

Cost by using e-learning the cost to install across our network could prove significant. Before we make an investment, be sure a particular platform or approach is right to us.

Besides, use e-learning it will make the user lack in communicating with teacher and friends. So it also will make the user lack in communication and it not good for them as well because in this society communication is very important. Beyond that, e-learning user will lack on it because they always face on computer and seldom talking to people.

References:

-Tammy Greene,the pros and cons of e-learning [Online], Retrieve on Saturday, 13th of February 2010

URL:http://www.articlesbase.com/e-learning-articles/pros-and-cons-of-elearning-685765.html

Poll of the week 4: Do you think e-book is more expensive or textbook?

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:33:00 +0000

Link to us:http://snipr.com/result4

Click on the play button to listen to the speech synthesizer.

Hi readers! Its weekly poll result again.

For this week poll result, there are a total of 14 voters who voted for our weekly poll question. Based on the above result, it shows that out of 14 voters, there are 2 voters which is equivalent to 14% vote "e-book". They probably thought that e-book is more expensive than textbook because it uses electronic devices like laptop to study. E-book is where it is like a printed textbook uploaded in the computer. Students study with the use of electronic devices. Not only that, they probably thought that e-book is more expensive as they have to pay more on the electrical bills. They need to turn their laptops for long hours just to study using e-book from laptops.

Apart from that, there are 11 voters, 79% think that textbook is more expensive than e-book. They thought that textbooks are produced by using papers and that is why it is expensive. Nowadays, papers are very valuable and the price of textbooks increase. It requires people to cut a lot of trees to make a one whole thick textbook. In addition, they also thought that textbooks with colour are more expensive as when the textbooks are in printing process, it requires a lot of ink from the printing machine to print textbooks. It requires man power to run the machine as well. Not only that, when the textbooks are distributed to the bookstore, transportation fees and some other fees will be charged.

Besides, there is 1 voter, 7% vote for "I don't know". Well, there is not all people know how to difference the price between e-book and textbook. It does not matter which one is cheaper or expensive, it is a matter of the distribution of information and quality of information. Respondent probably does not really care about the price of e-books or textbooks because respondent just wanted to have a good education.

There is none of the respondent vote for "the price is slightly the same". This is because the respondents probably know which book is more expensive. They are clear with the cost of e-book and textbook because they probably has done some research on the cost of e-book and textbook.

Summary: Well, students who use e-books will probably think that textbooks are expensive whereas students who use textbooks will probably think that e-books are expensive. It is not the matter of cost, it is a matter of whether or not students will get good education. It is still the quality of the information that gives students good education.

Avelyn

The Pros of e-learning

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:21:00 +0000

Link to us: http://snipr.com/uayu5

Previously, we did discuss on what is the meaning of e-learning, types of e-learning, one of the factors which differentiate e-learning and traditional way of learning and etc but we have yet to discuss the pros and cons of e-learning.

So, today, we will be discussing on the benefits of e-learning.

What is the first point in your thought when you first think about the advantages of using e-learning?

Convenient? Time?Cost?

In our opinion, there are a lot of advantages in using e-learning but we will be highlighting on three points which are the convenience, cost and time.

Convenience

It is convenient for the students to study as they can study anywhere but with the use of electronic device for example laptops. Students can either study at home or outside during day time or night time. Students can take the learning lessons to other location. Well, of course it doesn't mean that we actually bring the classroom to other place to study but what it means is that we can study anywhere we want. We can use e-learning when we are outside like in a restaurant, provided the area has internet connection. Learning is self-paced. For those slow learners, they could pick what topic to study first as e-learning is flexible. Slow learners can go step by step and not rushing to finish the syllabus. By doing so, they could reduce their stress as no one is giving them pressure. Not only that, students can either read materials online or download them later. They could study and learn at their own pace. Students can also join discussions between their classmates and instructors in chat rooms using chat services. This benefits the students because it is convenient to just talk in the chat rooms than rather to talk on the phone. By doing so, they will get instant feedbacks.

Time

Students use e-learning to study do not have to worry transportation problem, traffic jams when they are on the way to schools, out of papers when they have to print notes in the library and so on. E-learning is where students could save the travelling fees, materials fees like papers and most importantly they could save a lot of time. Students can avoid those problems and concentrate on their studies. Moving on, e-learning provides courses which are available 24 hours. This is where students could study anytime they want. Students who have to work can always pick to study at night or day depending on the working shift.

Cost

Not only convenient and time, students could also save cost. Students could save travelling fees, materials fees like textbooks, and so on. Nowadays, studying online is common. There are a lot of e-learning websites that provide courses which meet students needs. There are websites that provide programs for Degree, Certificate and so on. As long as there are students willing to study online, there will be online tutor who will be willing to teach them. E-learning gives reasonable price which fit your budget. Moving on, deforestation is getting serious nowadays. We need to save trees in order to make our Earth greener. E-learning could save our Mother Nature as homework,teaching and assignments are all almost done online. Students will not need to buy textbooks, notebooks, or using papers to print out assignments. We could save a lot of money and at the same time we could save trees!

Do e-learning benefits only for students but not instructors?

No. E-learning could benefits both parties. Instructors which holds a Master holder or higher normally will have wide knowledge. They could share their knowledge and guide students through distance learning which is convenient for both parties. Instructors could not only share their knowledge to students but at the same time, they could also earn their own income. Not only that, instructors could also do more than one job. Beside being an online tutor, they could also do other job. By doing so, they are earning more money.

References:

- Kevin Kruse,e-learningguru,The Benefits and Drawbacks of e-learning [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 8th of February 2010

URL: http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art1_3.htm

- Worldwidelearn, Benefits of e-learning [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 8th of February 2010

URL: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning-essentials/elearning-benefits.htm

Traditional way of learning vs e-learning

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:23:00 +0000

Link to us: http://snipr.com/versus

Click on the play button to listen to the speech synthesizer.

Based on 2nd week poll result, it seems that more that half of the respondents voted both ways of learning (traditional way of learning and e-learning) as their preference. It is likely because they prefer to involve in both environment. They prefer to learn in a combination of old and new way of learning which is also know as blending learning.

So, are you old or new or both?

Today, we will be discussing on the differences between traditional learning and e-learning.

Traditional learning

What is traditional learning?
We all been through to this way of learning whereby instructors will use textbooks, whiteboard, blackboard and etc to teach but for the younger generation, they probably do not really engage to this kind of way of learning. Generally, in our opinion, it is a way of learning where there will be no electronic devices like projectors or laptops used as learning or teaching tools. The teaching is done in the classroom.

Today, we will be comparing the differences between traditional learning and e-learning on the convenience factor.

Convenience

Traditional learning

Do you think it is convenient for you to bring thick books to school and walk up and down the staircase to class? Well, this is how traditional way of learning where students will have to bring their bulky textbooks to school everyday. In traditional learning, students do not use e-book to study. They use textbooks and reference books to study. Instructors use chalk or marker pen to teach while the students will jot down the important points from the blackboard or whiteboard on the notebooks. So basically the instructors will use "Chalk and talk" to teach while the students will use "Listen and write" to learn. Next, traditional way of learning is where students will have their group discussion on assignments or homework in the classroom or somewhere else without the use of electronic devices. For an example, if they want to have a group discussion on their group assignment like case study, they will go to the library to borrow reference books and discuss in the library.

What about e-learning?

E-learning

You readers know what e-learning is right? If you have not read our previous post on what e-learning is, you could read a post on what e-learning is at here, e-learning.

E-learning which is also a web-based learning uses the internet for information deliverance. Take a college life as an example, in college, students can access to their school's website anytime for course materials right? It is convenient for everyone especially for students and instructors. Students can access to their school's website anytime and anywhere to look for information they want online and download them anytime and anywhere they want provided there is internet access at their school.

Do you find it convenient for you to sit in front of the computer for several hours? e-learning is where students use e-books to study. If they need references for their assignment, they could just simply search for information online. The students use laptops or the computer at the school's lab to access. Not only that,e-learning is also an interactive learning system where students will have interaction between their classmates and instructors via e-mail. They could often corresponds and share their ideas, opinion and information through e-mail or chat services like Windows Live Messenger with their classmates. They can have their group discussion online. The students could also ask for guidance from their instructor via e-mail.

So, readers what do you think? In terms of convenience, which is most likely to be more convenient? The traditional way of learning method or the e-learning method?

Summary: Today, we generally introduce you how traditional way of learning and e-learning work in the schools and the difference of these two ways of learning. Traditional way of learning is where thick and bulky textbooks are used as learning tools whereas e-learning is where there is no textbooks used as learning tools as students study with the use of e-books which is online.

References:

- mojegrosze, hubpages, e-learning vs traditional classroom instruction [Online], Retrieved on Sunday, 7th February 2010,
URL: http://hubpages.com/hub/Elearning-vs-Traditional-Classroom-Instruction

- helium, in terms of cost, convenience and academic potential is an online education beneficial traditional? [Online], Retrieved on Sunday, 7th February 2010,
URL:http://www.helium.com/debates/253030-in-terms-of-cost-convenience-and-academic-potential-is-an-online-education-beneficial-traditional/side_by_side

Avelyn

Poll of the week 3 : Who uses e-learning method the most?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Link to Us : http://snipr.com/u9rmd

Click the play button to listen to the speech synthesizer.

For this week poll result, there are a total number of 14 voters. Based on the above pie chart, it shows that majority of the respondents which is 64% voted "students" meanwhile 29% of the voters voted "lecturers". 7% of the respondents voted "others" while there is no one voted for "companies".

Based on our observation of the result, we find that most voters voted for "students" as their answer as the users use e-learning the most. They probably think that students use e-learning method often for downloading course materials online, doing their assignment online and so on. As we could see that most of the universities, colleges and even secondary school are using e-learning as one of the method to learn. Not only that, students tend to reach and interact a lot with their classmates through e-mail or chatbox services. Students use e-learning method often because the best method for them to search for information which is informative, clear and convenient is through e-learning method.

Apart from that, 29% of the voters voted lecturers as their answer because they think that lecturers will upload notes online which will be given to students as their notes for them to study. It would be convenient and easy for lecturers to upload notes and task given through e-learning as lecturers do not need to waste time and money on "photostating" notes that will be distributed to students. Students might ignore the notes as they will claim the notes are troublesome to carry them anywhere. Not only that, lecturers use e-learning method to updates their notes and also use it to teach in a classroom as a teaching tool. Besides, 7% of the voters voted "others" as they probably think that people like parents will probably use e-learning as well to teach their kids at home. Well, anyone can use e-learning even 4 years old kids could use e-learning to study.

Last but not least, there is no one voted for "companies," this is because they probably think that companies do not really use e-learning that much as they tend to give formal letters to employees. They prefer to use black and white documents. Voters probably think that it is dangerous to store private and confidential information online regarding the company because they feel insecure as there are possibility for hackers to hack their system through online and access to their company's website or e-mail and copy the information or do some changes on the information.

Summary: Nowadays, we are all engaging to the use of technologies. Students use most e-learning mainly because they want to search for information online for their assignment references whereas lecturers use e-learning because it is one of the best way to create interactive way of teaching the students. Parents use e-learning to teach their kids and so on. So, anyone use e-learning but how often they use this method?

e-learning in colleges and universities I

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:46:00 +0000

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Image Source : clw, E-LearningatCarltonleWillows [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 4^th February 2010

URL : http://www.clw.notts.sch.uk/pictures/elearning-home-pupils.jpg

Do you know that e-learning uses Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a helping tool of learning in education and at the same time enhancing the way of learning to make learning more interactive and fun? Nowadays, a lot of people use e-learning especially students use e-mail to e-mail their homework, access to the internet to download their course work. Almost all of activities are entirely done online.

Based on our research, it seems that e-learning has bring a lot of impact in colleges and universities in terms of administrative services such as registration, fee payment and so on. All of the system use ICT. In colleges and universities, e-learning is typically as a tool to enhance traditional way of learning in classroom. ICT has not taken over the traditional way of learning which is learning in the classroom, it gives the students to have a new learning experience and to let them enjoy the new system. Not only that, ICT provides easier life for the students to access for information such as e-books, online journals, online case study and so on.

Besides, students and instructors should work closely together to make the lessons interesting and fun. A collaboration between e-learning and traditional way of learning could help the learning process to be interesting and fun. Students could share their ideas and opinions with their classmates and instructors in the classroom at the same time they could use ICT to make the learning system interesting.

As you all know that we are now in a high technology era and we use ICT a lot in our daily basis. E-learning is one of the examples that uses ICT as a tool in education.

The following examples are websites that provide e-learning courses:

1) http://www.elearners.com/

2) http://www.eelu.edu.eg/wps/portal

Most of the e-learning courses is self-paced study whereby students study on their own. Students work alone on the computer but with the guide from their instructors which mean whenever the students could not understand the question, they could just ask for guidelines from their instructors via e-mail. Instructor will upload the course materials online for the students to access and download them.

Colleges and universities that provide e-learning could also hold a lesson in classroom but in an online classroom environment. This is where students will have their lesson in a real-time interactive learning through the use of internet access like video conferencing. How is the teaching and learning works? A video conferencing software is needed to have a real-time interactive learning. This will connect the instructor's laptop to the students' laptops. The students will view the lectures online through video conferencing. Instructors will monitor the student progress online by reviewing their students' assignments and homework online.

References:

- elearningfortertiaryeducation [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 29th January 2010,

URL: http://www.comminit.com/en/node/243450/303

-EPGYOnlineCourses [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 29th January 2010

URL: http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/index.html

Poll of the week 2 : Do you prefer the traditional way of learning or the new way (e-learning)?

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:40:00 +0000

Link to us: http://snipr.com/poll02

Click on the play button to listen to the speech synthesizer.

Here is the result from last week poll question.

There are a total of 10 voters all together. Based on the above pie chart, it obviously shows that half of the respondents which is 70% voted "both" (the traditional way of learning and e-learning). 20% of the respondents voted "traditional way of learning" as their answer and 10% of the respondents chose "e-learning". Well, there is none of the respondents chose "I do not know" as their answer as they know what they preferred.

We are all aware on how education is distributed right, but which distribution method do you prefer? According to the above result, most of the respondents vote both (the traditional way of learning and e-learning) because they simply prefer to be involved in both environment. There are some people prefer to study in a classroom and at the same time searching for information through the use of electronic devices like laptops. Not only that, apparently, it seems that most of the respondents prefer to study in classrooms with lecturers showing them the power point slides. This is how nowadays a lot of schools use this blending learning method where it uses the combination of traditional way of learning and e-learning method to create interactivity in classroom.

Next, almost one quarter of the respondents prefer the traditional way of learning. Why? This is because they prefer to use textbooks as information sources and references in the library rather than surfing to the internet to search for information sources. Besides, traditional way of learning is whereby instructors will use chalk and talk in classroom. Students will write the notes down in their notebooks. They prefer to listen to the lectures and write important points on the notebooks on the spot. Not only that, they prefer to study in a classroom where there will be discussion in the class and if they couldn't understand the questions, they could just directly ask their instructor by putting their hands up to get the answer.

There is only one respondent vote e-learning. Not all people prefer to study in a classroom environment where it is noisy. There is still some people prefer to have their learning through e-learning. They prefer to use e-books. This is because they probably want to have their own space when they are studying because they may not used to noisy environment. They need to be in an area where there is totally no sound so they could concentrate their studies. They prefer to have lectures and homeworks done online.

Summary: Different people prefer to study with different way in different environment right? So, it is a matter on how you learn and study. It is not how the education is being distributed, it is all about whether or not you get enough education.

Stay tune with us as next week, we will be discussing on the topic of the differences between traditional way of learning and e-learning.

Websites for e-learning for kids

noreply@blogger.com (Avelyn) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:54:00 +0000

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/web4kids

Hello readers!

Find it hard to search for a website that provides really good e-learning for kids? Its okay. We could do that for you.

As you can see, there are thousands of websites out there that offer really good e-learning for kids. With so many choices, could you possibly click on every link and look through all of them one by one to find the best website for the child? No, it will be a waste of time by doing so right? So, we have decided to help you out by coming out with a popular listed websites that provide e-learning for kids.

Lists of websites that provide e-learning for kids:

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/courses.html

Image source: e-learningforkids [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.e-learningforkids.org/courses.html

This website provides a lot of courses such as Maths, Computer Skills, Sciences, Health and etc. This website provides more than 3 different languages translation version. You could either choose English or Chinese language translation as you like.

http://www.brainpop.com/ (offer free trials)

This website offers videos for the kids to watch. The layout of this website is colourful and interesting. It also provide quizzes to test the student's knowledge and understanding on the topic. This website is mainly for grades 4-12 students.

http://www.brainpopjr.com/ (offer free trials)

The following image is the screen shot of the webpage of brainpopjr website.

Image source: brainpopjr [Online],Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.brainpopjr.com/

The layout of the website is pretty similar with the brainpop website but the content is designed for the preschool to 3rd grade set students.

http://www.nickjr.com/

This website provides fun learning and activities. We are sure kids will love it!

http://pbskids.org/

A lot of things to learn and a lot of exercises for the kids to practice.

That's all? No. We have more.

Having problem with spellings? Check out the following website.

http://www.spellingcity.com/

The following image is the screen shot of web page of spellingcity website.

Image source: Spelling City [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.spellingcity.com/

For your information, kids can enter spelling words and play the spelling games in order to remember the words and master them. This website offers games like missing letter game, hangman game, word searching game and so on. The kids will definetely like it.

Do your kids, neighbor's kids or your friend's kids need to practice their math problem solving skills? No problem. The following websites provide really good Maths teaching and learning techniques.

http://www.ixl.com/ (Math course)

A popular Maths website which is used widely in 110 countries. Isn't it awesome?

http://www.aaastudy.com/ (Math course)

This website provides a lot of tutorial for kids to read through.

That's all we have with our research on popular websites that provide e-learning for kids. We hope the websites we have provided will help you.

References:

- e-learningforkids [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.e-learningforkids.org/courses.html

- brainpop [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.brainpop.com/

- brainpopjr [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.brainpopjr.com/

- nickjr [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.nickjr.com/

- pbskids [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://pbskids.org/

- spellingcity [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.spellingcity.com/

- ixl [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.ixl.com/

- aaastudy [Online], Retrieved on Thursday, 28th January 2010,

URL: http://www.aaastudy.com/

Avelyn

Study Online II

noreply@blogger.com (Brandy) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:54:00 +0000

Link to us: http://snipr.com/on9study

Click the play button to listen the speech synthesizer.

Our previous post on study online is basically just an introduction on what study online is and how study online works nowadays. Here is the link if you haven't read our topic on study online part I http://snipr.com/u4gza. So, today, we will be talking on study online again but a little bit in depth.

You readers know what study online is right? In study online, you can pick whatever topics you like to read and enjoy. Researchers found that because of the flexibility and the various type of delivery methods used to reach different types of learners, the use of technology tools which make students life much easier is better than traditional classroom.

Types of e-learning:
(a) Purely online
(b) Blending learning
(c) Self-study
(d) etc.

Purely online

Image Source: Ualberta,purely online learning [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 25th January 2010

URL: http://www.ualberta.ca/~edtechpd/images/photos/amy_elluminate.jpg

Purely online learning is one of the learning ways in e-learning which obviously means that there is no face-to-face meetings. Learners and intructors do not meet each other outside. Studies are done fully online. For example, the lecturer will post the notes and homework online and the students will read the notes online. Homework will be sent to the lecturer to check via e-mail.

Blending learning

Image source: Flickr, Blending learning [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 25th January 2010

URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teacherbuth_summer04/1284714741/

Blending learning is a combination of online and face-to-face meetings. It combines the traditional way of learning method and e-learning method. This way of learning is where most schools use nowadays. For example, instead of having lectures everyday in classroom, there are some learning activities can be done online. Classroom time can be used to mix the students around for interactive purposes like a group of students discussing on their group assignments. Meanwhile, the online learning is where the students could access to the internet for information everyday and anywhere. They could read the notes posted by their lecturers online. This increases the flexibility and convenience of the students. Not only that, lectures could be done via chat, videoconferencing, teleconferencing and so on. In this way, students would not feel bored as there would be asking and answering questions which lead to interactivity between students and lecturers.

Self-study

Image source: Iboro,self-study [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 25th January 2010

URL: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/eu/images/General/LRC5.jpg

Self-study is whereby you learn and study all by your own. There is no lecturer guiding you. The notes are all inserted in some kind of CD-ROM, DVD-ROM. For secondary research, you could search more explanation on the topics you want to know more about online. Self- study is mostly to those people that could not really study in the school environment or to those people that are too busy with their work. In self-study, you could start anytime and anywhere without attending any lecture in a traditional classroom environment or online tutoring. It is convenient for those people that could not study in a noisy environmental area.

References:
- worldwidelearn, types of e-learning [Online], Retrieved on Monday, 25th January 2010

URL: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/elearning-essentials/elearning-types.htm