Walden EDUC 6177 Week 8 Blog Post

This week we are looking back and reflecting on the variety of educational technologies we have discovered as a class.  Each week we have individually investigated and researched various technologies and shared our findings on our blogs.  This week we have been asked to review our classmate’s blogs and choose three that we think would work well in our particular adult education setting. 

The first potentially beneficial technology that caught my eye was one the GraceSinda Duran shared on her blog (http://gracesindaduranedtechblog.blogspot.com) during week 6.  It is called Open Learn.  

According to Ms. Duran, OpenLearn (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/) “allows students to have free access to over 8,000 hours of materials to use for their studying as well as getting expert opinions on various topics available thru English Open University courses.”  I reviewed the sight and found it very interesting and useful.  There are many learning resources readily available that could be utilized in the types of courses I teach.  Additionally, students can sign up for courses and get a certificate for completing courses.  Although these courses will not earn a degree, the learning is visible and could be put on a résumé if desired.

I envision possibly using this site to find learning resources I can use to augment the textbook and materials already used in my courses.  Additionally, I could identify it as a resource when assigning my students to research certain topics. 

    

The next technology I believe may benefit my teaching efforts was shared by Ms. Samantha Whatley, also during week 6 (https://technologysamanthawhatley.wordpress.com).  Ms. Whatley shared the MIT Open Courseware site (http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm) 

Ms. Whatley describes the site as, “…a whole world of education that I did not know I could access. This opens up so many possibilities for my future learners to access addition materials to add to their self-directed learning. In addition, I can use it as a means of research to add to prior knowledge or to enhance knowledge for my students.”

After reviewing the site myself I noticed a very distinct difference between this site and the Open Learn site.  The MIT site made all the course materials available for download right away.  Unlike Open Learn, one does not have to “enroll” in the course to gain access to the course resources.  Also unlike Open Learn, there was no certificate or other credential offered for course completion. 

The benefit of the MIT Open Courseware site is that, as an instructor, I can pull resources from the site into my own classes, making them even better by adding perspective and diversity.  I envision using the materials available on the MIT site to add to my list of student learning resources.  I will also use it to develop lectures and presentations to my class.   

The final technology that I believe I will use a lot in my classes was shared by my classmate Jim Schooler on his blog, (http://jimschoolersedtech.blogspot.com).  Jim shared his thoughts about TED Talks during week 4.  According to Jim, “TED (www.TED.com) is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less).”  Jim went on to state that “As an educator, by simply identifying and locating a video on the TED site (which is easily searchable), I could easily use this tool in my own role to provide video content to support the learning topic being presented, either as a function of presenting to my class or as pre-work/homework in preparation for classroom discussions.” 

I reviewed this site and I am in total agreement with Mr. Schooler, I can definitely use this resource in my role as an adult educator.  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and there are over 2000 video talks on hundreds of subjects available for viewing.  I plan to use this resource, as Jim indicated, to provide my students with some multimedia options to support my presentations and lectures.  I will also assign my students the task of researching this site and YouTube for videos that they feel are relevant to the subjects we are discussing in class.   

I want to take this opportunity in my blog, to thank my fellow classmates for their excellent research and willingness to share so many high quality educational technologies.  To me, this has been an excellent example of collaborative and social learning. 

Cheers!

Ron N.