A Learning Centre - A Facebook Page Proposal

After my last post there have been some developments which led in turn to a re-think. I said before that I was not sure how a learning resource centre could use Facebook for social learning. Most of my elearning work recently was focused on creating resources for workshops that are being made available on our intranet and the VLE. Promoting the use of the learning centre is generally focused on these internal pathways.

Now our college has joined social media with an account on Twitter and a page on Facebook, a new pathway is open and I can consider social learning for a learning resource centre. I am using this post to outline a general proposal that could bring a social media aspect to providing learning resources for students and staff in any education establishment.


Why use Facebook? Pros and Cons

• No need to ask people to join - aimed at those already using Facebook regularly. This means they are already familiar with how the site works. I would guess using my own observations, that many students (and maybe some staff) log in to Facebook more often than they log in to the VLE.
• Many people are using mobile gadgets to access Facebook on a daily basis therefore it would be easy for them to receive updates
• It is easy to set up and maintain a profile and page (or group) for social learning - there are lots of online resources to demonstrate how if you need instructions.
• Set up with clear goals and strategies to minimise privacy issues. Use of Facebook by educational establishments can include teaching strategies to encourage making good choices on what we share and what is private and what is public, how Facebook changes may affect your privacy and strategies that safeguard internet use on all social sites.
• Privacy - yes it is the hot issue! Don't underestimate it's importance! In our roles of safeguarding it is very important for colleges, schools etc use of social media to be wary of possible problems and deal with them. I hope that the strategy chosen will protect the privacy of all individuals. If you can see a hole in it please comment and point it out.
• Risk of upsetting some who use Facebook for fun and don't wish to mix their education or work with pleasure. You may not get the activity you expect - so don't assume participation, just work towards it.

Research

Whether you are a Facebook user or not, it is very useful to do some research and find out others views on how to use the site for the purpose of social learning. It can help to define your institutions aims and objectives. For this post I used resources posted previously in Facebook - A Tool for Social Learning. For your convenience here is a list some of the resources used:

Facebook for Learning? Boleh! by Zaid Alsagoff

How to Use Facebook for Social Learning by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technolgies, Jane Hart

100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom by Online College

I found a good example of how one university Learning Resource Centre uses Facebook Page:
Queen Margaret University Learning Resource Centre
 

The aims and objectives define the purpose and proposed use of a Facebook page for a learning resource centre. These are my suggestions:




Aims

• to promote use of LRC for research, study, books etc.
• to promote resources available including online resources
• to direct staff and students to internal resources
• provide updates on special displays and books available to loan
• to easily share reviews, experiences via comments etc.
• to notify about surveys, book sales, opening hours being changed

Objectives

• provide an alternative method of communicating with staff and students
• engage and interact with users of the Learning Centre
• reach more of the community who are already using Facebook

Page not Group - why?
I am focusing on creating a page because I believe it would serve the aims and objectives for the following reasons:

• you have to join a group to become a member and if it is a closed group you must meet certain criteria to join
• a page is easy to join as you simply have to like the page (click on the Like button)
• page updates appear more readily in your news feed
• pages allow you to add applications which would enhance the services and information offered
• pages are the best option for a learning centre which supports staff and students

The presentation by Zaid gives all the details in the options available for groups and pages on Facebook. A closed group would not be necessary and I don't think there will be any need to message all members. Both of these are features of Facebook groups. Pages allow you to use apps such as Notes which can be used as a blog or you can import your blog from another site. If you wish page status updates can be linked to Twitter using a suitable application.

Privacy
For this project I would recommend that a profile is created specifically to maintain the LRC page. This would help to maintain a professional profile reflecting the team behind the page rather than one individual. Profile image and name should be determined by discussion and agreement of staff involved in the service.

When you like a page and comment on it you do not share any personal information other than your name and profile pic. As long as your profile is private the only thing you risk is inviting friend requests. I do not recommend staff accept friend requests from current students. This would be in line with safeguarding recommendations.

No doubt you are aware of the latest disquiet around Facebook and privacy. Check your privacy settings especially after any changes. I would recommend doing this regularly regardless. Best practice would be to posting only links and items you don't mind anyone seeing.

It is not the goal of this proposal to invite people to use Facebook but to reach those who are already using it.

Facebook and Students

Here is a link to a news item regarding the use of Facebook and how it helped to reduce 'students drop-outs' from the BBC News. Very useful to see positive practical experience of social media.

I thank you for reading my proposal and hope you have some comments and thoughts to share especially if you have any concerns on how taking this path would affect support for learning and student progression. I look forward to hearing from you.

Watch out for future developments.

Screenr - Screencasts an eLearning tool

Books are great and training sessions are even better but when you have a limited time to learn and upgrade your own skills I for one am glad for the wealth of information available online. It is part of my job to make sure my skills are up to scratch with the software being used by students. Recently we were upgraded to Office 2007. We are all teaching ourselves and each other while dealing with the start of the new term. I tried to use some books but they give you tasks that may be great in a classroom but have no motivation for me when I am self-teaching.

Until last month I’d never heard of the term ‘screencast’. I stumbled across a site that allows you to record and share screencasts with your Twitter followers. I was searching for PowerPoint 2007 videos and found screencasts. What's a screencast? To answer that question I decided to look up a definition or two.

The first definition is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing audio narration. Although the term screencast dates from 2004, products such as Lotus ScreenCam were used as early as 1994.[1][2] Early products produced large files and had limited editing features. More recent products support more compact file formats such as Adobe Flash and have more sophisticated editing features allowing changes in sequence, mouse movement, and audio.

Just as a screenshot is a picture of a user's screen, a screencast is essentially a movie of the changes over time that a user sees on his monitor.

Another definition from yourdictionary.com explains it thus:

Screen recording software that turns screen output into a video to teach an application or to promote a product by demonstrating features. Users can also make videos of screen sequences to log results for troubleshooting. Screencast programs may allow narration during capture, and advanced versions allow editing and annotation after the capture.

The site I discovered is called Screenr. There I found a number of very useful screencasts to help people like me who like visual explanations and demonstrations. One of the screencasters appears under the name elearning. He can also be found on Twitter as @elearning.

I used two of his screencasts to learn about some advanced skills and while doing so observed how to access the various tools and features of PowerPoint 2007.

The first one shows how to use gradient fills to “create interesting and dramatic lighting effects.”





The second one shows how to create "Interactive, animated scenarios using motion paths in PowerPoint 2007".



Want to see more? Visit Screenr

I think the effects demonstrated really make a difference to your slideshow. I created an instructive presentation using motion path animation and the gradient fills to great effect. As it is specifically designed for our students it is not suitable to share in this post but it is already being implemented on the VLE. With the help of elearning's screencasts and my transferable skills, I consider myself upgraded in PowerPoint 2007. I hope you find these screencasts useful. Now to tackle Excel....

Learning to Use Office 2007

In my experience as a Learning Resource Assistant (IT) the autumn term is traditionally a time for initial assessments. People wishing to embark on a new course, develop skills and hopefully change their lives in some way have to sit an online assessment program for English and Mathematics. For many this is quite daunting especially if they are not very familiar with using computers or have learning support needs. It is our role to support all levels of ability and we take our role very seriously. However we have our own learning issues to face.
We returned to work after our summer break to discover that Office 2003 is now upgraded to Office 2007. There is no time to wait for professional development so we are busy trying to find time to train ourselves in between assessment duty.

Students are starting classes soon and will require support in using the intranet and VLE with technical support and how to questions for applications. We are faced with the task of learning to use Office 2007 to a good level of proficiency.
There are other issues which I will not go into here but just say that it presents us with a number of challenges that will affect the quality of our support. For this article I want to look at the methods we are using in our attempt to become proficient in Word 2007.

Microsoft Word is the obvious starting point for upgrading our knowledge of the Office suite. Once we can use Word we expect to be able to transfer that knowledge and apply it to the other applications used by students to carry out research and produce coursework. There are a number of methods we are using to achieve this.

We work in a learning resource centre so we are surrounded by tools for learning. But the first thing I did was just open the application and jumped in. Then one of us found a book called ‘Teach Yourself Word 2007’ on the shelves. It’s written by Moira Stephen and although designed for beginners it is very useful for users experienced in Word generally with clear progression from the basics to IT proficiency. You can find out more about the series from their website.

Books are good because you can carry them around and dip into the section you want. You can have the book to refer to as you work through and this book has some useful images but this is an elearning blog so let’s look at a few elearning options for Word 2007.

1. Online videos are great tools for learning and I found some on this website There are just a few videos of a few minutes duration and the site does have a comprehensive list of features in Word 2007 to explore and discover. It explains something that for me was initially the most confusing feature of Office 2007 – the ribbon. After years of menu bars and drop-down menus it is quite a change but with a few video demos and some demos from colleagues I recognised that in reality those dialogue boxes were still there.
Here is the video that introduced the Office 2007 Ribbon...



We also have some learning resources available on the VLE but I found these difficult to use as I have to switch from window to window to carry out tasks and exercises. I did not get any positive reactions to these resources from my colleagues.

2. The Microsoft Office site also offers some learning tools but I am unable to use them at work as the video player uses Silverlight. Installing anything is prohibited on the college network so I am not able to tell you about that.

3. The application itself offers help as we would expect. One colleague pointed out a really useful item called Reference: Locations of Word 2003 commands in Word 2007. This is neither training nor learning tool but it is a good reference tool which shows the equivalent of Word 2003 tools in Word 2007. It's just what we need.

This upgrade experience illustrates how we take different paths to learning. One of us uses video and practices the application by creating documents and exploring tools by doing. Another of us uses the Teach Yourself book and learns by reading and doing the bits that are relevant or interesting to them. We are all sharing what we’ve learned so far with each other, demonstrating and therefore reinforcing our own learning by sharing. It turns out that we have all learned different things so while I have focused on inserting tables, clipart and objects like text boxes, my colleagues have focused on formatting tabs, using the quick toolbar and headers and footers for example. This is a good thing as we will be able to complement each other as we provide support for learners. How long before we feel as confident with Office 2007 as we do with 2003 is another matter.

Wonder How To Anything

One of my hobbies is making greeting cards. It is a hobby I've enjoyed for about 18 months as I discover, learn and apply new styles and techniques in paper craft. You can read all about in 'My Other Blog'.

One of these new styles (well new to me, you understand) is an exploding card. It is a card for special occasions like weddings or milestone birthdays which also doubles as a box in which you can place a gift. I am in the process of making my first one.

The internet is not my only source for learning about making handmade cards. There is a wide selection of magazines and books on the subject but my favourite method of learning is through watching good crafters demonstrating. There are TV shows on QVC and a specialist channel Create and Craft which is also live online. The internet is without doubt the major provider of a wealth of instructional videos and I used this one to learn how to make an exploding card.



The Wonder How To website describes itself appropiately as 'The How To Anything site'. It is a one stop site for instructional videos on topics from Arts and Crafts to Science. I would add a word of warning as I saw some thumbnails for videos which were on dissecting. Not for the faint hearted and certainly not for anyone other than medical students, pathologists or the fascinated! I watched the video above on Wonder How To and embedded it directly from YouTube.

Many but not all of the videos are gleaned from YouTube so you will find videos from New Zealand as well anywhere else in the world.

If you are using the Firefox web browser you can also download a sidebar which will offer a choice of videos relating to the subject within your current webpage. You have the option of closing the Wonder How To sidebar and it is simple to re-open from the task bar.

There are over 1600 videos under the subject Education with subcategories of Humanities, Legal Issues, Math, Science and Teaching. There are some useful videos like the one following and there are some dubious ones which I hope examiners are aware of as they reveal secrets that help people to cheat at exams! This one however gives some useful tips on preparing to take exams, something that many students, all over the world are currently engaged.



For personal development I think Wonder How To is a very useful resource and I shall be using it for my own hobby development. Not sure I would recommend this for institutional use though.

101 Free Learning Tools

101 Free Learning Tools

View more presentations from zaid.

This is a great presentation from Zaidlearn. A great list of learning tools.

A New Term and More Moodling...

I spoke last time about my reasons for joining the Moodle Meet community on Ning. Since then we've had the Easter Break and the summer term began with beautiful weather. Much as I wanted to sit outside and enjoy the sun it was back to the business of developing our elearning resource bank on the VLE.

One of my main purposes for joining Moodle Meet was to learn how to achieve goals that come from tinkering, using the tools available to create a user friendly learning area. The user experience is at the heart of creating resource banks. As I read somewhere this week, if the content and the look of the site is not appealing, no one will use it. One of the issues to which I pay most attention is the number of clicks or the amount of scrolling it takes to reach a goal. It is one of the golden rules of web design and I think it is appropiate to consider this even if it is just for your VLE.

There is a link on the Moodle Meet page called Moodle Tutorials. It could be called Moodle TV!! There are channels with videos to show you how to achieve your goals and in the process develop new skills and knowledge. This is great for any moodler of any level. You can join but it is not compulsory to have access to the videos. If you do join then you can rate videos and make comments rather like YouTube or Vimeo.

I had posted a video from CommonCraft to our eLearning Forum. Well I posted a link to the video to be exact. While this was fine it meant that it would take require four clicks from selecting the main resource to watching the video. I wondered if there was a way to embed a video as I was used to doing on my blogs and so on. It would cut out at least one click and be more inviting to the user to actually watch the video.

One of the channels on Moodle Tutorials is called Moodle 1.8 not that I am certain which version of Moodle being used in our institution but I know it is not the most recent version which I think is 2.0 - please correct me if I am mistaken. Back to the point, this channel had the video to teach me what I needed to learn. In it the speaker takes you through the steps to embed videos on your Moodle platform with clear directions and demonstration. Watch the video for yourself.


The CommonCraft video was the first resource to be added to our Information Literacy area. CommonCraft make video 'Explanations in Plain English'. It is called 'Web Search Strategies in Plain English' which will be useful for anyone teaching Information Literacy. Following the Moodle Tutorials video I created a web page with the CommonCraft video embedded in it. See that video below.




Moodle Tutorials is a great site for people like me who are relatively new to Moodle. There are easy to use resources that the boss won't mind you watching when they see what you start producing in the goal of developing elearning resources and making it easy and pleasant to use for everyone.

Charles Dickens for eLearning!

Type the name Charles Dickens into a search engine and you will be met with millions of results. One of the best sites and given the thumbs up on a Google search is David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page. It is a treasure trove of information not limited to the man and his work. Historical context is provided to show how the author was informed and inspired. The site includes contemporary maps and images of settings related to locations in Dickens work.

I found David Perdue's page a few years ago when Bleak House was the current dramatisation on BBC1 and thus inspired me to use the internet to find out more about the author. The wonder of the words of a Charles Dickens tale is a fond memory of an earlier age.

My stern and rather scary headmaster read 'A Christmas Carol' to the whole of the junior school over a number of weeks. I never looked forward to assembly so much and never were so many children so quiet for so long in an assembly hall as during those few weeks leading up to Christmas that year. That marked the beginning for me. Since then I've watched TV and film adaptations and read the actual novels too. When searching the net in between episodes of Bleak House on the BBC that winter I found sites that offered full texts of his work like Charles Dickens Online. David Perdue's page is however one I do return to every now and again when I want to read some interesting information surrounding various favourite characters.

Like Sairey Gamp in Martin Chuzzlewitt. This is said not to be one of his best by people who are said to know better but I enjoy the story and the various characters. For Mrs. Gamp there is a brief but informtive description and the option to see a picture as illustrated in the original publication. This follows for all of Dickens characters, though not all with image option.

I recently introduced this site to my manager as one of my favourite sites but possibly one we could consider as an elearning resource to direct students towards. It was a positive experience because he was immediately intrigued with what was offered. A link could be added to our Virtual Learning Environment for our own learners. It is regularly updated so it is a site you can visit again and again and not feel as if you've seen everything. I would recommend this site as a good resource for students of Dickens and for anyone who loves Charles Dickens and just wants to know more.

Has anyone got any better elearning sites for Charles Dickens? I would be very interested especially if you reckon your choice is better than David Perdue's Charles Dickens Page.