Thumbs up to an excellent Sloan-C Emerging Technology conference held this past week in mid-April. The conference was notable primarily for the number of sessions dealing with the application of cloud-based tools within existing learning management systems. A number of options were presented in various sessions that offered possible solutions for the enhancement of course activities using free or low-cost learning technology alternatives.
A common buzz phrase heard in multiple sessions was content curation, a technique for gathering, filtering and presenting information relating to a topic or theme. Content curation as a learning tool is notable for two reasons: first, it makes students responsible for discovering knowledge resources; and second, forces students to sift through and validate information resources before presentation to a group.
Content curation isn’t just about the content but also about the content format. The presenter emphasized the importance of displaying content in mobile-friendly formats. PDF format is recognized by virtually all devices. Students might also use Google Drive which is supported by all browsers. Video can be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo and linked within LMS systems.
But what conference review would be complete without a rundown of the latest featured apps.
A number of tools were discussed including:
· Screenchomp: a free iPad whiteboard app for creation and annotation of images. Available from iTunes
· Show Me: a free iPad whiteboard similar to Screenchomp
· Explain Everything: a free iPad screencast and whiteboard app.
· Other apps for curation include
o Diigo: bookmarking site
o Netvibes: dashboard for social media monitoring
o Feedly: RSS reader (replaces the former Google Reader)
o Evernote: organizes random notes and ideas
In the session Go Mobile or Go Home, the emphasis was on the integration of mobile-friendly course content. Here, the presenter had created an online course within iTunes U. iTunes U provides up to 20 gb of space, sufficient for even the most media-intensive course. Within the course, the presenter had integrated video, text and other media types. The course main page featured an index of topics including links to the syllabus, weekly content, and supplemental materials. The presenter used GoClass to push content to the mobile devices of students. GoClass is available for both iOS and Android.
The session titled BYOD and Integrating Mobile Learning on Campus emphasized the ease by which mobile-friendly content can be developed and used. The session was presented by a representative of MERLOT, the highly regarded repository for open educational resources (OER). The presenter offered suggestions to institutions interested in adopting OER on a large scale including creation of a business and development plans as well as faculty stakeholder commitment. MERLOT offers assistance for institutional adoption of OER to partner institutions. Individual membership is free. The presenter also provided several resources for OER materials:- Mobile Learning at MERLOT
- Emerging Technologies & Mobilization: Tennessee Board of Regents
- iTunes
- Google Play
A separate session offered by another MERLOT rep focused on the MERLOT web page/website builder. Pages can be made public and is highly recommended since MERLOT is based on open resources. Each page has a unique URL and can be linked to from anywhere on the web.
I also had several great discussions with RHCHP Nursing faculty between sessions. One of particular note dealt with the use of cloud-based learning resources. This got me thinking about a hybrid LMS model combining the LMS with 3rd party apps. There is certainly no shortage of free or low-cost cloud-based apps available to faculty for the enhancement of student learning. However, the LMS (currently D2L) provides that all-important common classroom look-and-feel. Is it feasible to combine the two? Students would log in to D2L and enter their course. From there, faculty would use their choice of 3rd party applications for the performance of specific tasks. For example, faculty might use Google Drive for uploading of assignments, Diigo for the web content exploration, ShowMe for student presentations, Google Forms for quizzes, and so forth. This would also give faculty alternative learning tool resources to counter short-term LMS failures.
There would certainly be a number of concerns but it's an idea worth further exploration.
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