Eddie's personal learning environment

FOREX - the plan! the plan!

2010-05-19T04:15:00.001-07:00

So I have decided to create a VLE for introducing new punters to trading currencies!

The Task Description: After an introduction to FOREX you will have learnt basic terminology and concepts that will enable you to develop your own trading plan that you will be able to practice in a real time 'Demo' account. These tasks will be directed through YouTube clips, screen shots and podcasts to provide an introduction to trading currency pairs.

The Audience: This introduction to trading FOREX is aimed at adults who have a basic understanding of mathematical concepts and a crude understanding of global financial markets.

The Purpose of the Tasks: to provide an introduction into a commonly discussed and marketed concept

definantly a work in progress!... http://forexvle.weebly.com

Learning Objects vs Social Objects

2010-04-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

In my mind, a Learning Object (LO) is a means of providing educative material often in a format that represents; an introduction to the topic, examples, and then an activity for students to complete.

A Social Object (SO) represents an extension of an activity or topic that may have been created or stimulated in the LO, that stimulates discussion, debate or contraversy.

An example that comes to mind lies in the introdction of large mammals to a yr 9 students. An activity might be to build a dichotomous key (a way to classify a group of animals) for all the large mammals of the world in an interactive software. Each students dichotomous key would become a social object then to be scrutinised and debated by other students that may tag pictures/youtube clips/audio files to prove their/other students dichotomous key true or inconsistent.

The beauty of the activity created in the LO is that no dichotomous key is truly correct and will always have holes that can be easily debated.... leading to infinite discussion via each students own SO!!... yes I am a sadistic educator!... but what is the difference between an elephant and a blue whale??!!

Virtual 'Learning' or virtual 'environment?

2010-04-21T02:37:00.000-07:00

When I think of a virtual learning environment i imagine multiple individual students with virtual reality headsets and special gloves that mange to co-ordinate typing and clicking with humerous hand gestures all logging in to an asexual looking computer generated teacher!

My interpretation does however cross over with conventional VLE with multiple individuals accesing many forms of educational media in a virtual environment.

However, the notion of 'virtual personal learning' in my mind is associated with a specific tailor designed package for one individual based on their educational needs, personal learning style and tailored for the individuals socio-cultural background. To draw a juxtaposition, in the pharmaceutical world, drugs are now being made specifically designed for only one individual based on their genetic make-up.... Is this the future for education... a personal 'virtual learning' experience????

Flexible Learning Environments (March 17th)

2010-03-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

After a terrible connection on Skype-a-saurous, i decided to open the google machine.

RSS aka Ron Sampson Smith aka RSS 250 (an old motor bike of mine) aka...

'Really Simple Syndication' was the topic of discussion and after watching some interesting home improvement movies on YouTube I was directed to watch this one (thanks team);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

...I have previuosly customised my own google homepage to feed in info that i want to know about (such as what britney spears had for breakfast), but i could see the immense value of using a reader that links to multiple website posts and news feeds.

...in a practicle learning environment i envisage that students would have all their fav sites linking in, but they would aslo be able to get posts from their teacher and fellow classmates blogs...

looking years into the future.. would students be able to leave their home in the morning, or will they be overloaded with news, postings from the Ben stiller fan site, what their friend shelly is wearing on the weekend and finally their homework that they forgot to do as they were too busy posting to an underground rave's blog.... as the youtube clip outlined...

"it is addictive"... and i can see that its distractions would outwiegh its benefits as a tool for educative purposes.

...comments??

Alice Springs

2010-03-17T02:13:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Alice on Sunday... after two weeks of constant rain, Alice looks greener than Melbourne (which is not bad for the middle of the desert!)