eLearning Port

Getting Connected

7 July 2008 – 11:14 pm
Several months ago, all I ever wanted was to consolidate, aggregate, recreate and put together content for a free e-learning school. i still have this goal, but I realized that this is just the first step. The next step would be to get connected. Let me explain. While getting the needed content, for example, a Math course for High School, would probably be God-sent in un-served regions, updating the content later on would always come up. Evaluating the effectiveness of such a course, one would likely change things. If we follow the ADDIE process for instructional design, then this would serve as the input for another iteration of the course. From previous experience, this cycle is seldom repeated, or the evaluation disregarded or forgotten.  If you are like most people, you would consider that portion done and move on to the next. If "getting connected" on the other hand doesn't follow the ADDIE ...

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E-Learning for the Developing Countries

15 June 2008 – 11:19 pm
The digital divide is an issue that all countries must address. You may agree that the survival of a nation depends largely on its digital presence - basically its connection on the web. The pre-requisites are power, computers, internet connection and a digital literacy of its citizenry. These are being addressed in various ways by many sectors of society and there have been great strides but we still have a long way to go. On that note, the question that comes to mind is "How do we catch up, particularly in the field of education and e-learning?" I have ideas for sure, as most would. But wouldn't it be cool if somebody validated these theories? The e-learning revolution for many of the middle-to-lower income countries has hardly taken root yet the rapid changes just seem to get faster. Some worriers would say "Oh we can't catch up.  We've hardly master productivity tools and now you tell ...

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Moodle in a Flash!

9 June 2008 – 1:28 pm
Which sounds better? Moodle in a Flash (Disk) School in a Flash (Disk) Flash School Portable Learning (or eLearning) The name doesn't matter much at this point. What I'm more excited about are the possibilities. Dreams do come true. A few weeks after I first encountered Moodle (Version 1.3 or 1.5 was it?), I dreamt of the possibility of a "bring-anywhere school" (another name?). The 1:1 computer-to-child ratio for schools is still a big challenge but most places would have access to one. And solid-state disks were beginning to get  cheaper then. The emergence of low-cost computers provides a brighter glimmer of hope. Yet the availability of internet access is a bigger concern now. It was just bound to happen, making Moodle portable. Though it is now reality, the main concern has always been content. The Moodle in a Flash Disk implementation I used was of the WOS Portable kind from CHSoftware, packaged by VLEMiddleware. In a recent Philippine E-Learning ...

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Would Be Teachers Should eLearn

17 May 2008 – 9:57 pm
One idea that has been in my mind for a long time is how to get content. Though there is an abundance of it online, I think BS Education students should start creating and developing open content two years before they graduate. These should be  pre-requisites before they take the teachers licensure examination. I assume many will oppose this for various reasons. Their arguments may be valid (or not), but I have my reasons, too. First, it will create content. If there are a thousand students who will create at least a one-hour module based on the current curriculum, that's one thousand hours of possible content for a free elearning school. Done yearly, you can see how this will greatly help our educational system. Second, it will develop instructional design skills. Aside from using it in their future teaching careers, it could open up new avenues and opportunities. Instructional designers are or will ...

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Starting Now

15 May 2008 – 9:55 pm
Just do it. This is my drive telling me to take action. It's been several years since I've first realized that I would want to build a free elearning school. Initially for high school and trade (or practical/vocational) school. There is nothing concrete yet. So far, I've managed to read a lot about technology, pedagogy, Web 2.0, open source, OER, OLPC - things that seem to be related to what I've dreamed. I've blogged about it here, and was awakened by a comment: What have you got to show. I somehow reasoned that my being a member of PeLS was strategic towards my goal. But deep inside, I know I've been sleeping. This site was put up to become a repository of content for the school of my dreams. As you can see, nothing is here yet. I imagined a "sea-ish" theme, "pirate-y" even. The header showing a dock and several ships anchored safely, flags unfurled, ...

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