Session 4 - E-Learning in Higher Education

Bula Vinaka All,

This would be my fourth blog for ED403 that focuses on Innovations in Learning Technologies and Professional Practice.

Electronic learning, or e-learning, is the term for the use of technology to transmit instructional materials and enable teacher-student communication. Online classes, virtual classrooms, and digital resources including films, animations, and interactive tests are all examples of eLearning programs. As technology has advanced and the demand for flexible learning options has grown, eLearning programs have taken on a significant role in education. Effective eLearning program design and implementation, however, can be difficult. 

Source: Shift eLearning

This session has 2 assessments which are

1. Microteaching (and Micro-LED) and E-facilitation– 
2. E-Learning Case Study.

With Micro-Teaching, we are to prepare a 5-minute video on the lesson plan for the microteaching session. Below is the video of my lesson plan that will be the content of my online teaching on the coming Tuesday (30th April 2024).

Video: Lesson Plan for Micro-Teaching Session

Following this lesson plan, we are to conduct our online teaching (via an online platform) where our group members are the students for the session and assessors since this assessment facilitates peer assessment and self-evaluation. The 5-minute video lesson plan needs a few improvements when carrying out my online teaching.  

The e-facilitation assignment is a combination of individual and group effort. We are expected to design, develop, and deliver a module online mode through the Moodle shell assigned to the group. During this designated e-facilitation week (for our group), we will take charge as a group and facilitate learning for the whole cohort.

Below is a snapshot of the link to the Moodle page that we (as a group) would need to work on to facilitate learning.

Figure 2: Snapshot of Link to Group Moodle Page

This session has been very intriguing as in my opinion, there is no better framework to examine how our relationship to technology is changing as digital technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives than education and lifelong learning.

Educational Technology:

The main issue with educational technology is the goal-setting process, which is handled from two angles: 

1. Setting diagnostic goals and objectively monitoring the pupils' learning of study materials;
2. fostering general personality development. 

Planning the educational outcomes in the form of systems of specialized abilities through task components is one method of increasing the specificity of pedagogic goals (table 1). 

Source: Studying innovation technologies in modern

education by NM Stukalenko, 2016.

From experience, the main takeaway message that we should note is:

Figure 4: ALT's Definition of Learning Technology

Professional Practice

The four guiding principles of ALT's approach are as follows:

1. dedication to sharing and communicating best practices; 
2. empathy and a readiness to learn from colleagues with varying backgrounds and specializations; 
3. a commitment to stay current with emerging technologies; and 
4. At the core, a commitment to investigating and comprehending the interaction between technology and learning (refer to figure 2).

Figure 5. Four Core Principles of Professional Practice

Conclusion:

Innovation in education arises from problem identification, observation and learning from others, development of novel approaches to these challenges, and iteration of these approaches when first experiments yield unsatisfactory results.

In the field of education, innovation can be:

1. Realizing that flipped classrooms, in which students hear lectures at home and complete tasks in class, are more beneficial for students.
2. Increasing the amount of technology used in the classroom to establish a blended learning environment where students interact with it as they would in the real world.
3. Offering more effective video solutions to enable parents in school districts to communicate with each other in a clearer and better manner.