Week 10

This week we had the opportunity to explore an article of our own on a topic that has not been covered in class. The article I chose is:

Valk, J., Rashid, A., & Elder, L. (2010). Using mobile phones to improve educational outcomes: An analysis of evidence from Asia. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(1), 117-140. Retrieved from ERIC database.

This article reviewed the role of mobile phone-facilitated learning in the following Asian countries: Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand, India, and Bangladesh. The projects reviewed in the article reveal a positive outcome of using mobile phones "as a tool to either access educational materials or deliver more learner-centred curriculum" (p. 135).

However, an area for further research not addressed by the article would be the cost of employing such technologies and whether or not the educational benefits support such costs. We must consider how these educational benefits stack up against those of traditional learning to evaluate whether or not the cost is worth it. Because of the lack of studies in this area, for the time being, it is difficult to tell.

In addition to the article, the distance learning technology workshops presented this week were on Jing and Moodle. As for Jing, I really liked how this presentation seemed to emphasize how Jing can be used as an instructional tool. The ability to use it to share a desktop and create and share videos instantly can be of great importance in a distance learning situation. I particularly like the idea of creating videos to eliminate the need to re-teach lessons. This is a great tool I plan to use in the future. The presentation was very informative and and easy to follow.

The Moodle presentation was very interesting to me knowing that next semester, we will have the opportunity to use it extensively and gain a thorough understanding of how it can be used in developing an online course. I am always very interested in useful open source programs. I think the handout for this presentation was especially helpful and will be a good resource as I experiment with it more in the future. Moodle appears to be a very affective way to create online learning sites. I especially liked the explanation of how students can use it to download lesson plans from missed days.

All in all, a great week. It's hard to believe this course is coming to a close so soon. I am very grateful for all I have learned about these exciting technologies and their application to distance learning.