Week 3 - I am Still here

This week was action packed with so many activities that saw to many late nights and bleary eyed mornings!!. It all began with participating on a Webinar with other Ed403ers, followed by 2 topics on the discussion forum which included looking at learning management systems and web conferencing tools. Later in the week we had to design a team charter with group members allocated in the first week. Luckily I have members in my group whom i know from work but it was also nice meeting Asenaca who is also a teacher. There is another group member whom i am yet to meet. 

So what did I learn this week, let me start with some key points.

Key Points

Course Management System (CMS) or Learning Management System (LMS)

There are subtle differences between the terms LMS and CMS. 

Both CMS and LMS provide an opportunity for online learning or can be used to support face to face teaching. Both systems allow the course convener to perform a range of activities such as outlined in the diagram on the right but the CMS is narrower in scope. If you want to picture this it would look as CMS is a subset of LMS but CMS functions are core to an LMS. For me the question whether to use LMS or CMS but will support the institutions growth and will it promote learning.

Web Conferencing Tools

There are many web conferencing tools available online and depending on the needs of the user and the number of participants, the instructor can decide which one to choose and use. Two such tools we used this week in this course were GoToMeeting and Google Hangout. Both were really good as they allow to interact with other participants in real time and also you can have one instructor and many participants who may be located in different countries or settings. Patience on the side of the instructor is essential and of course the participants must be open to learning new things and trialling them out. These two abilities are key to making web conferencing a successful way to interact with other learners.  

  Resources

 During this week i came across a few useful websites and articles that would be helpful in integrating these technologies in the the course i will be developing for the pharmacy assistants in Fiji and the region. Since this course will have mainly in-service staff working at their respective workplaces, web conferencing tools will be ideal for this course. The following resources (with links) will help me as to how to use these tools and also how to use them in the course:- 

1. Educational Technology use among US colleges and schools of Pharmacy
2.  Developing Web- Based Lecture Notes and conferencing for an on campus course in non prescription drugs
3. Web-based Training Design and Development - Lessons Learnt
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxY22IhbaH4 - This is a you tube video on how to make web conferencing and e-learning more effective so students learn better.
 

Reflection

Learning about web conferencing tools and also reading up on LMS & CMS have been a real opener for me. I am really excited to see the way we can use technology to improve student learning methods.

The only problem with web conferencing is that it chews up too much bandwidth but as time goes by I am sure these platforms will work on much lower bandwidth capabilities. This will especially be good news for us pacific islanders as more people in isolated communities will be able to join in. I remember when internet providers (Connect) first started in Fiji and their exorbitant charges but now as there is more market competition and computers/internet have come into the mainstream, the cost of these things are going down which again is a step in the right direction of information equity.
Also with us being in the Pacific we are constantly faced with the tyranny of distance. Web conferencing will mean that we can sit in our offices or homes and link up with our teacher in a university 1000's of miles away without paying expensive airline fares and other transportation costs.

These tools will gain more awareness and popularity as time goes by because people in general are getting busier and are looking for flexible ways through which they can upgrade their education or pursue professional development.

I personally feel that web conferencing offers teachers an opportunity to extend their students learning and link up with shy students offering them a choice to re-engage with the curriculum.

Now for some light moments:-