The Wikimania

From Wikipedia to Wikispaces the wiki concept is invading the whole word.

Thousand of peoples each one independent from another writing and collaborating to build content, create open source and free software or develop spaces for collaborative work.

The wikimania is here! and we are all part of it.

In our eLDI course we also use wiki concept for the collaborative work. From all over the world (Bolivia to Philippines) people are editing and sharing content.

Are there some cons on this practice? Maybe! Some people think that free editors can write anything even contradictory or not true concepts in a wikipedia and that there is a serious danger on this practice of freelance writers working for no money and without any control or supervisor.

To avoid this, there are several workarounds: To make a public not controlled edition for anyone to edit and one more restricted (let´s say through some calification or authentication process) access for a more "trusted" wikipedia edition or content.

The fact is that wipikedia and the wiki mania is growing as fast as internet and maybe most of us soon than later, will be involved in a wiki project by ourselves.

To wiki or not to wiki?

For people with straightforward views on learning, wiki is just another vague storage of wild ideas. Taking vague storage seriously will give you endless ideas. Wikipedia is free goodbye ???? encyclopedia and gone is the book business.

Let me quote an article from wikipedia website the history of it: The idea of wiki can be traced back to a HyperCard stack he wrote in the late 1980s. In the late 1990s, wikis were increasingly recognized as a promising way to develop private-and public-knowledge bases, and this potential inspired the founders of the Nupedia encyclopedia project, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, to use wiki technology as a basis for an electronic encyclopedia: Wikipedia was launched in January 2001; it originally was based upon UseMod software, but later switched to its own, open source codebase, now adopted by many other wikis.

In the early 200s, wikis were increasingly adopted in the enterprise as collaborative software. Common uses included project communication, intranets and documentation, initially for technical users. In December 2002, Socialtext launched the first commercial open source wiki solution. Open source siki software was widely available, downloaded and installed throughout these years. Today some companies use wikis as their only collaborative software and as a replacement for static intranets. There is arguably greater use of wikis behind firewalls than on the public internet.

The content management of Wiki

For people looking for content management systems with an enterprise wiki must consider basic features such as:

1. The name of the article is embedded in the hyperlink,

2. Articles can be created or edited at anytime by anyone (with certain limitations for protected articles),

3. Articles are editable through web browser,

4. Each article provides one-click access to the history/versioning page, which also supports version differencing (“diff) and retrieving prior versions,

5. Each article provides one-click access to a discussion page particular to that article, and

6. The most recent additions/modifications of articles can be monitored actively or passively.

Flordeliza O. Naje, Christina Mayorga and Rolando Abando

Blended eLearning: The future is beginning today

The concept of e-learning is used nowadays together with the familiar to everybody concept of “Distance Learning and Education”. Nevertheless, e-learning introduces a wider notion and implicated a combination of different forms and means of learning based on the information and communication technologies.

At present the learning process requires new means implying a wide use of the vast opportunities provided by the Internet and data processing. The main advantage of e-learning is the use of the Internet that implicitly has profoundly changed the Learning process bringing together curricula designers, different specialists and students.

The competition going on among educational institutions resulted in an escalated campaign for attracting new students. The strive of educational institutions for the consolidation of their market positions led up to the development of dozens of thousands curricula. However, a student is sure to choose the learning course or specialty, which is requested by employers.

It is believed that in 2025 virtual universities will prevail in the system of higher education. Why not? And as to the virtual college for vocational training, it should be more flexible regarding learning forms, learning process and techniques so as to gain under market condition within a short period of time a quick respond to the training needs determined by the requirements of clients. Organizations can present various curricula, control the level of the obtained knowledge and build up subgroups of the network students.

There are a number of obstacles hindering the development of learning technologies in Armenia, in particular, absence of the legislative field and indifference of the educational institutions towards the development of the e-learning strategies. The results of the carried out studies prove that in the last few years the attitude of the national higher education institutions to e-learning has changed and a certain interest to it is revealed. The higher educational institutions cannot fail to see the advantages of e-learning and make first steps to bring into practice its methods not only in organizations of both the distance and present day learning process.

The e-learning technologies create also opportunities for advanced vocational training of specialists, especially by offering on-the-job training and improving continually the syllabi. The training organized directly on workplace spares time and finance, which makes it more attractive as compared with others.

At present the level of education has become a serious item challenging educational establishments all over the world. If a few years ago only classical education was in question, nowadays the concept of quality can be applied to e-learning as well. Such an acute interest can be easily explained, as one can hardly find in most countries an educational institution or organization not using e-learning for its students of employees. The quality of the classical education and, to be more precise, its concept, has already been formed to a certain degree. The keystones of the high-quality training are qualified teaching personnel, carefully chosen and thoroughly elaborated curricula, sufficient computer equipment of the training institution and vocational organization of the learning process. The above-mentioned factors are also valid for e-learning, but one must bear in mind the central\main position of e-learning (“In any place at any time”). That is why the e-learning curriculum must be designed in such a way that the students can acquire the necessary knowledge and be trained without his or her daily routine and tempo of living being distorted.

Summarizing the afore-mentioned, we can conclude that when estimating the quality level the following question is to be answered: Can the offered training course really enable the student to learn on his own and meantime to have good records? The answer is to be found in the curriculum of e-learning. It should be also taken into account that besides the available teaching technologies the student gets the opportunity to have a permanent access to the necessary materials, supplementary sources, to communicate with and to transfer information to both and the lecturers and other students.

Yulia Stakyan
Armenia, Yerevan,
August 20, 2006

Interview with a tutor II

Interview to a star tutor
Guadalupe Suárez
Faculty of Education
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Question: From all the tasks that you perform as a tutor, which one has given you more satisfactions?

Answer: There are several of them, but the most important is the academic assistance and affective support given to the participants who have difficulties with the virtual campus tools.

In many cases, the age or personal limitations hinder many participants to familiarize themselves with the use of the virtual resources and this, especially in the first cycle of any distance program, is an enormous demotivating factor. By helping them with this kind of problems, I have gained a lot of satisfaction.

I must also mention the affective support that as a tutor I have been able to give to several participants, only by paying attention to their concerns. I have encouraged them to use better and more effective learning strategies, to organize their time better, and not to decay in their efforts. The fact that at the end of the study process, the students discover that the e-mail isn’t the cold and distant medium that they imagined, and that it is an enriching space of interchange, is particularly valuable to me.

Question: Which are the main characteristics of the ideal tutor?

Answer: In an academic level, I would mention:
- An adequate knowledge of the contents of the course, maybe not at the expert level, but at an advanced one.
- Excellent command of the virtual learning tools.
- Knowledge of the existing learning styles and their implications.
- Didactic skills to use different methodology strategies according to the students’ needs that he/she may detect.
- Experience as a teacher and as a student in distance courses.

Among a tutor’s attitudes, I would point out:
- Dynamism, “proactivity”.
- Personal, intrinsic motivation.
- Empathy.

Other qualities:
- Communicative skills, especially writing skills.
- Time availability and organizational skills.

Question: In your opinion, what type of problems cannot be handled by a tutor?

Answer: I wouldn’t say they are impossible to handle, but administrative problems are always difficult for a tutor. I am thinking of payment control, procedures for getting certain documents, etc.
Besides, sometimes the participants ask too specific questions about the contents of the course, that the tutor can’t manage.

Question: How important is the intercultural aspect in your tutorial work?

Answer: This is a factor of vital importance. Besides a learning style, some experience in the course topic, and a certain level of ability in different areas, each participant brings with him a cultural seal, a particular vision of the world, and an understanding of his position in this particular learning context, and of how the interrelations tutor-student and student-student should be. If the tutor is not conscious of this, his performance becomes mechanized, and loses quality.

The interaction spaces offered by the virtual platform are of great value. Among other things, they help us identify the intercultural potentiality of the students, capture their perspectives, interpret their attitudes, and be more tuned in to their forms of expression and interaction.

Lima, July 2006.

Interview with a tutor I

“I like it when I get the feeling that participants really use my tips”

She loves busy chats as well as hand-written love letters. She lives in Vienna and would like to show the city to her former e-students, but she would also like to travel around the world and visit them in their countries. Julia Jäger revealed her work experience as an e-learning tutor while sharing some of her personal views and projects in an e-interview with Carmen Macavei.

1. Have the learning patterns changed compared to ten years ago and if yes, how?

I don’t think so. I think there are more different tools to convey learning, but the natural learning patterns for all learners won’t change too much, I guess. Only their ability to use different ways of learning.

2. Your graduation thesis focused on the interaction and communication in tele-learning. Please make a short comparison between tele-learning and e-learning in terms of interaction intensity.

Difficult question, since tele-learning is an “old” term (in the US they used “tele” only when mentioning video presence) so, I think this is more a term of labeling a certain way of distributing learning content.

Apart from that eLearning should be interactive and that doesn’t mean “reading on the computer screen”, but multi-media examples and discussing with other learners and tutors.

3. Which part of your work as an e-learning tutor is the one you hate the most? Which one is the most rewarding?

I don’t like tracking – writing down what the participants have done or running after participants who didn’t submit on time. But then again, I like it when I get the feeling that participants really use my tips and comments and develop their projects. I love busy chats.

4. Could you refer to an intercultural experience occurred within your work that was particularly special for you?

Many. One was about “receiving a star”. This is a method of rewarding young schoolkids in Austria and Germany. They get a “star” in their booklet. One of my participants mentioned that (he is from Germany) and the others (from Africa and Asia) didn’t know about it. This was a nice discussion about cultural background. (Stars were handed out after that for all. ;-)

5. E-mails or letters? Meetings or virtual meeting?

Depends on the context. For work: Mostly emails and face to face meetings (sometimes skype-meetings) For private issues: Is there anything better than reading a hand-written love letter? (Come on guys, think of your loved ones!)

6. Is the Internet eventually an alienating medium?

I quite disagree. With weblogs, Wikis and ePortfolios, I think it gets personalized even more. The internet is a medium to use for different purposes and I think some of them are quite nice for individual communication and getting to know other people.

7. How do you see the future of e-learning in 10 years from now on?

Is this a job-interview? ;-)

I hope to develop my eLearning competences even more, but at the same work with people face to face, doing mediation in conflicts for example.

On a private side, I hope to start a family and live in a nice place.

8. Where would you organize the f2f "class reunion" with your former e-students and why there?

This is an awful question, I have got so many former e-students and all come from so interesting countries (Cambodia, Mongolia, Costa Rica, Namibia, and a lot more come to mind). I would love to do a world-trip and visit all of them, because I love traveling, but at the same time would invite them all to come to Vienna to show them my city.

Portals - New Learning Highway

Portal… I always associate it with an “entry” or “gateway”. In learning, it’s an “entry to knowledge” or a “library”. The word "portal" is derived from the Latin word porta, which means “gate”. In the strictest sense of the word, anything that acts as a gateway to anything else is a portal.

There was a time when the only portals I knew were those I encountered from playing games over the internet or other off line devices. In such games, you may play as a warrior battling for forces – “masters” or “the boss”, so to speak. You use a magic scroll or you’ll have some special powers for the battle to open a dazzling, if not, a mysterious gateway to lead you to the next stage of the game or acts as a gateway to the warrior’s base. In the network, the portal server acts as gateway to the enterprise.

Never have I thought that portals could be associated with various terms and tools; not until internet or the World Wide Web was introduced to us. The evolution of portal concept can be traced back from its early beginnings.

Ever since internet users discovered online courses, learning portals have been sprouting like mushrooms all over the web. A learning portal is a collection of off-the-shelf courses and/or knowledge from different vendors and references. It serves as an on-line library where you could get information you need real time. It makes it easier for users to locate online courses. You can find tutorials, training programs and academic courses. As others perceived learning portals to be focusing on computer and technical courses while in reality, it hosts an endless spectrum of all possible topics catering to general audiences. Some learning portals also offer books and discussion groups. Individual learners can sign up, pay for and take variety of courses at a single site to save themselves from trouble of queuing, look for references or books, signing from the traditional library and return the books at a specific period of time.

Learning portals nowadays give business intelligence for collecting and analyzing business information. This includes the technology used and information obtained from an organization’s processes. Some learning portals focus on the concept of on-line service and customization can be extended to a whole new level. In the workplace, lower administration costs, better efficiencies and higher employee satisfaction can be offered. On an individual perspective or practitioners, it makes it more convenient for them to work on their own and have more information gathered than usual.

By and large, portals can help deliver learning to a geographically solitary workforce effectively. This sturdy training solution is particularly well-suited for small and medium-size businesses that don't have the need or resources for full-scale custom course development, learning management software, or a large implementation and all boils down to one objective – “to extend knowledge and information to a wider range of learners around the globe in the most convenient way.”

By: Kay Ching

e – Learning – Its Importance & Present Scenario

Several years before the term ‘eLearning’ was coined, researchers set out on conducting studies to find out the most effective medium for education and training –From Socratic dialogues to the education of the cane, from drill and practice to group work and open learning – all different Instructional Design patterns. Unfortunately, all these studies pointed to one basic result – there is no significant difference between types of media used in terms of their effectiveness of delivery. This result points us in the direction that choice of medium does not guarantee effectiveness. Having that in mind let us look at one of the most frequently used terms in recent times when it comes to learning mode – eLearning – some of its major aspects, its major advantages and some issues associated with it.

Multimedia and the internet have opened up a totally new angle to look at things. Computer-Based Training (CBT) and Web-Based Training (WBT) are the common forms or names that eLearning has had in its short period of existence - a little more than 2 decades. As opposed to this, e-Learning precisely refers to ‘computer enhanced learning’. As we know, Knowledge transfer or K-Transfer is the basic idea of any learning or training process. But any intention of keeping abreast with the modern day technologies and ever-evolving trends makes it inevitable to foster knowledge on the fast track. This is where eLearning can be of great help and has admirably gained enough ground in today’s training scenario. Like any other topic of major discussion, eLearning has its own strong points and issues in various aspects. We will discuss some of its highlights and sign off giving some important issues that you must consider before choosing eLearning as your mode of learning.

Knowing about the eLearning types is essential for the purpose of understanding its importance. eLearning can be delivered through two major ways – offline and online. Offline learning refers to training materials delivered to the learners in the form of audio visual presentations through CDs while online learning refers to web based training where interaction between learners and the trainers is possible.

A strong case has been made on how eLearning can greatly help Organizations in today’s marketplace, by a lot of research out there. Here are some not-so-new but underlying factors supporting that idea.

• Most people in today’s workplace environment have very little time for enhancing their knowledge. However, the demands of increasing workplace competence keep escalating. eLearning offers the ease of Self-paced Learning so that the learners can use their least productive hours in a day for getting trained

• “Adults learn by doing, not by seeing” is a cliché, especially if you are from the performance improvement area of business. eLearning can provide the Active Learning Experience that people need, through multimedia interactivity making it more interesting engaging and compelling for the learners.

• “People learn differently”- eLearning takes this very component to its advantage by empowering the learners by providing a gamut of resources in their field of study and making their experience more personalized.

While the number of reasons here look too minimal for you to accept a paradigm shift from face-to-face learning to eLearning methods, this just about sums up the whole idea.

Save time, Cut down costs and still improves competence.

Looks like the best bet... But how come it is not so prevalent?! Like any other issue, eLearning has lot of factors that keep it from being completely viable.

• Appropriate technical infrastructure – eLearning requires the learner to have access to the computer and sometimes the internet, during the training session and it might not be completely possible in every Institution for all the trainings. Evaluation of the personnel based on the trainings can also become a pain if proper procedures are not followed.

• Basic knowledge about computers & internet – Having the technology is one thing and being able to make use of it properly is another. So apart from having access to the appropriate technology it is also important the learner gets familiar with how to use it.

• Personal interest & motivation – Above all the technical and competency requirements, the motivation level of the individual learner plays a major role in making the eLearning program effective, simply because of the lack of physical presence of a trainer or mentor.

This article summing up the strong points and problem areas might just be another page that you flipped through or the first time that you ever came across eLearning. At the end we just want you to take home, the point that we mentioned at the start.

When it comes to training and education, there are few "rights" and "wrongs", but there is a lot of "suitable" and "unsuitable". And it's the task of instructional designers and educational strategists to find out what's suitable where and when. So, let’s face it: there is no right way of learning (or teaching)! But today, with the modern multimedia technology offering a variety of opportunities and avenues for learners to improve their skills, we have more opportunities than ever to make learning interesting, fun, challenging and useful - eLearning is definitely one of them and in our opinion stands right on top.

By: Dr Til, Kay & Karthik

About eSkills

E-Learning for Out-of-School Youth

“Without proper education, the cycle of poverty from one generation to the next will remain. The marginalized youth without education are doomed to a life of desperate poverty”

Don Bosco eSkills Project is an initiative by Consuelo Foundation, Inc supported by Lucent Technologies Inc. and International Youth Foundation. The project started in 2001 which aimed to improve quality and delivery of technical/vocational training. The focus was on two main strategies: 1) curriculum development and 2) the integration of information and communication technologies as training tools.

The first 3 years of the project was focused on the development of the “theory” portion of the training curricula of the required courses and topics. During these 3 years, 30 multi-media interactive modules were developed and course wares were prepared by Center for Industrial Training and Enterprise, Cebu City.

By January 2004 the project was transferred to the Manpower Skills Training Center of Don Bosco Technical Institute of Makati. About 165 competencies based training modules for seven trade areas (Automotive, Electrical, Electronics and Computer, Machine Shop, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Civil and Construction Trade, Motorcycle Repair) were developed.

All organizations and institutions using the eSkills course wares are part of the community known as the eSkillsNet. It is an informal grouping of organizations and institutions committed to raising the level of quality and expand the reach of vocational training to target marginalized young people by using the information and communication technology as a teaching and learning tool. As of May 2005, 35 training institutions were part of the eSkillsNet.

Project Achievements

In mid 2004, Don Bosco - FIN through the Center for Research and Training of Don Bosco Technical College – Mandaluyong, submitted the project as an entry into a contest sponsored by Samsung in the “Live Your Dreams - Digital Hope Project” and garnered a reward to purchase computers for Don Bosco Training Centers to cope with the equipment demands and to cover part of the development of the 165 modules currently completed.

Other achievements include: a greater selection of skills/competencies to train on; improved quality of the training in the institutions that have integrated the courseware into their programs; greater consistency in training delivery, which is no longer dependent on the competence, expertise and disposition of the instructors; young people having greater control over what they learn and the ways in which they learn; increased enrollment in technical/vocational training institutions as some have increase the rate by as much as 150%, and marginalized youth now have greater access to training as some technical institutions have expanded their programs to their communities.

To build on these achievements, the project was expanded by the extension given by the Samsung Phase 2 on early 2005 to develop strategic hubs in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to efficiently disseminate the Technology and make the modules available in the web is currently a work in progress. The website is established February of this year.

Consuelo Foundation Inc, Lucent Technologies and International Youth Foundation will expand the project this 2006 for the Phase 2 on two strategies: 1) Continue to expand the development and production of new course wares with priority in agriculture. And 2) promote the institutionalization of standards pertaining to curriculum development, teaching methodology and monitoring and evaluation of the trainees. Training will constitute the main part of the project’s activities during the 2 year expansion.

February 2006, Consuelo Foundation committed to support a Philippine expansion or the Phase 2 for the eSkills Project in modules development, training and capability building to technical vocational education and training institutions that cater to the marginalized youth in implementation of eLearning in the grassroots.

By Carmelo

eLEARNING Technology in the Philippines

The information and communication technology infrastructure in the Philippines has greatly improved in recent years and technical/vocational institutions have demonstrated a growing interest in the eLearning technology. Caltex-Unocal approved the implementation of a blended/hybrid implementation of a community based training using the eLearning in rural locations (Batangas & Albay interior communities). Also, the eSkills project is the favored technology to be utilized in the Education and Employment Initiatives (EEA) in Mindanao to be funded by Consuelo Foundation Inc, International Youth Foundation with USAID Funds.

In 2006, the collaboration with the EDO Project of Dr. Dylan Dizon under the Communications Foundation for Asia is a strategic complementation of the Don Bosco Technical eLearning Modules and the EDO Alternative Learning System modules that focus in Math, English, Science and Philippine Social Studies. The collaboration would provide a holistic offering in academics and technical requirement for the High School drop-outs.

The network of Don Bosco in terms of “utilization” of the course wares has already reached Don Bosco Training Centers in Cambodia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Solomon and Papua New Guinea. Depending on the support it can gather from funding agencies, Don Bosco is committed to spread the technology in the entire Philippine archipelago and the rest of Asia and Pacific. InWEnt a German capability building organization is also providing assistance to Don Bosco for this agenda with the eLearning Development and Implementation (eLDI) Program. InWEnt also has linked Don Bosco to its network in Africa to establish synergy in maximizing the opportunities that can be achieved by the project.

On March 2006, Don Bosco is hoping to formalize the partnership with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology to further expand the synergy and opportunities for the project in the Philippines. A “Governing Board” is hoped to be organized soon for the eSkills Project.

On the other hand, the International Training Center for Pig Husbandry (ITCPH), a training center of the Agricultural Training Institute of the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture based in Lipa, Batangas, whose mission is to be known as a Center of Excellence in practical training and information dissemination on pig technology in South East Asia and the Pacific Region has been claiming that it is the first in the Philippines to implement an on-line training course in the field of pig husbandry. The modules they are offering are: 1) Breeding & Artificial Insemination, 2) Pig Housing, 3) Pig Health and Diseases, 4) Economics, 5) Record Keeping & Analysis, 6) Feeding and 7) Farm Management. Each module costs US$30.00.

This on-line training course was launched in January 2006 and was the first in the field of agriculture. The new technology of imparting knowledge to the clientele is at its experimental stage. As of the moment, the on-line course has gotten the interests of some 345 would-be participants but it has not yet materialized in the sense that the would-be participants have submitted their application already but have not paid the course fee. The problem of paying the course fee was overlooked by the eLearning course team, thereby the release of usernames and passwords is hampered.

The success therefore of an e-Learning implementation depends not only upon how well the course was planned and designed, but also on how well the other contributing factors, like payment, are well thought-of and put into place.

By Carmelo and Solita

The 5 e’s Project

In June 2002, Consuelo Foundation and the UNOCAL Foundation launched the 5 e’s Project (Educate, Enable, Energize, Employ out-of-school youth through E-learning) that aims to improve the employment prospects of 15 to 24-year-old out-of-school youth by helping them acquire skills through technical education.

The project capacitated two training institutions, Dualtech Training Center (DTC) and the Bicol Center for Community Development (BCCD), to strengthen and improve their technical training programs and to expand their reach.

The DTC operates in Manila and Laguna province. It takes in urban and rural out-of-school youth for a 24-month Electro-Magnetic course. Most of the course’s graduates became technicians in the industry and manufacturing plants in Metro Manila and the various economic zones in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces (CALABARZON area). DTC also supplies the manpower requirements of Lufttansa Technik, an aircraft repair facility in Manila.

The BCCD on the other hand, operates in the province of Albay and it conducts technical training for rural youth geared towards employment in the informal sector and community-based enterprises. The Center has brought together local communities, government agency (e.g. Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development), non-government institutions and local entrepreneurs to bring technical training, right at the doorsteps of the out-of-school youth. It has taken in a total of 183 youth, 153 completed various courses and 98 have found already found employment.

The 5 e’s Project enabled DTC to gradually shift from the traditional mode of training to e-learning. This complemented the new strategy of DTC to take in trainees on a monthly basis instead of the traditional semestral enrollment. As of April 2005, it has trained a total of 1,492,766 who have completed the course and already found regular employment immediately after graduation.

Phase II of the 5 e’s Project aims to sustain the initial success of the project and will focus on the setting up of two community technical training centers in two areas where UNOCAL Philippines Inc. (UPI) operates. Technical training will be conducted to benefit the marginalized youth from these communities. BCCD will be tapped to capacitate the Tiwi Community College to make the technical training programs running. Don Bosco Technical Institute in Makati City will conduct technical training in Barangay Bitin, Bay, Laguna in collaboration with the local government units of barangay Bitin, Limao and Sta. Elena.

The project is targeting a total of one hundred fifty youth (150), seventy five (75) from each area, to enroll in the various trade courses. Employment assistance through entrepreneurship training and micro-finance support will also be provided for those graduates who will opt for self-employment. Job placement and referrals will be done for those who will seek wage employment.

By Carmelo

20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have

During the last 15 years, we in education have moved at light speed in the area of educational technology. Whether you are involved in higher ed, secondary ed, elementary ed, or special ed, all of us find it difficult to catch up, keep up, and put up with fast-moving computer-based technology. Not since the introduction of the blackboard have we seen a piece of equipment make such a difference in how we teach. Today, not only do we use computers, but we also have laptops, wireless laptops, and tablet PCs. In addition, we have the World Wide Web, scanners, CD burners, USB drives, digital cameras and digital video cameras, PDAs, as well as video and DVD players. And most educators use a variety of tools-including video, e-mail, desktop conferencing, online programs such as WebCT and Blackboard, as well as video conferencing-to teach. Thus, it is no longer acceptable for educators to be technology illiterate.

With that in mind, here is a comprehensive listing of the technology skills that every educator should have. Because as computer and associated technologies continue to change and evolve, educators must continue to strive for excellence in their work. Today that includes continued time and effort to maintain and improve their technology skills (as much as some educators do not want to admit).

Here are 20 basic technology skills that all educators should now have:

- Word Processing Skills
- Spreadsheets Skills
- Database Skills
- Electronic Presentation Skills
- Web Navigation Skills
- Web Site Design Skills
- E-Mail Management Skills
- Digital Cameras
- Computer Network Knowledge Applicable to your School System
- File Management & Windows Explorer Skills
- Downloading Software From the Web (Knowledge including eBooks)
- Installing Computer Software onto a Computer System
- WebCT or Blackboard Teaching Skills
- Videoconferencing skills
- Computer-Related Storage Devices (Knowledge: disks, CDs, USB drives, zip disks, DVDs, etc.)
- Scanner Knowledge
- Knowledge of PDAs
- Deep Web Knowledge
- Educational Copyright Knowledge
- Computer Security Knowledge

By Laura Turner (sent in by Maria Rosa)

Learning the right way?

What are the best methods of learning and teaching? Educators have discussed this question for centuries, if not for millenniums, without tangible results. Instructional methods have changed, from Socratic dialogues to the education of the cane, from drill and practice to group work and open learning. Still, if you ask three or four teachers/trainers today about the ideal form of teaching, you will receive three or four different replies.

These days, multimedia, the internet and eLearning have opened up an additional angle in this discussion. Is eLearning better than "traditional" education? For a while, in the mid and late 90s, many educational institutions and educators subscribed to this view. eLearning was THE hip way out of boring and dusty seminar- and classrooms, and into the entertaining, interactive, multi-media world of learning. A great way of saving time and money, reducing institutional budgets and trainer costs. As it seemed.

But the hype is long gone. A lot of educational institutions (public, private and corporate) have taken up eLearning activities - and dropped them again. They have discovered that eLearning is costly to produce, and takes a lot of effort, energy, support and strategic planning. eLearning does not work by itself - and it is certainly not an easy way to fix instructional problems.

Today, talk is mostly about combining methods in an instructionally sensible and useful way. Combining eLearning with face to face. Combining group work with individual support. Combining online with offline. Finding different ways to blend methods of learning together. And here we go: a new educational term was born. "Blended Learning". Blended Learning is about picking out the best of all worlds. It is about finding the most suitable forms of learning for a particular target group and topic area.

Today, we can be quite certain: in training and education, there are few "rights" and "wrongs", but there is a lot of "suitable" and "unsuitable". And it's the task of instructional designers and educational strategists to find out what's suitable where and when. So, let’s face it: there is no right way of learning (or teaching)! But today, we have more opportunities than ever to make learning interesting, fun, challenging, useful. eLearning is (only?) one of them.

Arndt Bubenzer, common sense

eLDI eJournal 2006

This is our project! Together we will create an "eJournal".

YOU can fill this eJournal!
By collecting
- interesting news,
- reports,
- interviews,
- stories,
- statistics,
- quizzes,
- ...
all around the (eLearning) world.

Remember to have fun and a good time working on this journal together!
We all are eJournalists!