About My Students

My students are high school graduates who join our college for bachelors program. But before they start their bachelors they should have IELTS band 5 as this is the minimum requirement for this program. If they don’t meet this requirement they have to study in the foundation program where they will learn English language and improve their communication skills.  Most of them are young and are in the age group of 18 to 24.

They are learning Business, Engineering and Information Technology courses at our colleges.  As shown in the video there are very few students like ‘Susan’ and many like ’Robert’. Most of the students want to get certificate or degree so that they can get better salary.  I think this is because since childhood they have been told that they need to study to get better job and that why most of them just are in college to finish their degrees.

One of the best things at HCT is that learning outcome and course outlines are defined and agreed by experts in the field. Teacher and students have clear idea about the objective of the course and the content coverage as well. With E- books websites like Pearson and Wiley plus students always have an opportunity to look at the course material any time anywhere.

Students at this stage require proper guidance and need a teacher which can make explain the content to them with examples and make it easier for them. Student cannot learn on their own by doing self-study. At HCT students are required to have 4 contact hours.

The vision at HCT is to promote learning by doing rather than memorizing theories. Assessments are divided into different components. Most of the assessments contain a project portion where students have to demonstrate practically what they have learned throughout the course.  Its up to the teachers to link this project with industry and make it more interesting. There are other components like Mid exam, Final quizzes, and Class participation depending on the course content.

Module 2 : Project

Hi All

 Below is link  to my project technology in class room :

http://prezi.com/-lhbfbzn4-iy/modul2-project/

Hope you will like it and use this technology in future.

 

Change and the 21st century learners

I agree with the author of the article “The 21 Century Learner“ that the role of the teacher has transformed in last few decades. Traditional teaching styles have phased out where teachers used to teach only text and theories on boards with white chalk or a marker. In 21’st century teacher’s needs to continuously update themself with new technologies, knowledge and ways to deliver this knowledge to students. One of the main goals at HCT is to continuously provide training to staff so that they are up to date with current tools and technology available in market.  In the article author mentioned difference between students and teachers which I don’t think is correct. Technology does not have effect on multitasking, picture base or collaborated learning it depends more on the nature person.

Authentic learning model is widely accepted among learners. It doesn’t only provide leaners knowledge and theories but also provide real world scenarios how to use this knowledge in real life. Students get more engage with such type of learning as they can see the use of theories. In my project after every lecture students have to do case studies which are based to real life scenarios. These case studies give clear idea to students how to use the acquired knowledge in particle life. I think in future most of the teaching will move to authentic learning models.

Supporting information age literacy in higher education

In this Information Age I think all youngsters have passion for the digital technology. They have passion to learn and use new technology weather its smartphone or website. They can access these devices anywhere any time. As it was shown in the “HOLE IN WALL” article two weeks earlier students get involve with technology and they don’t even need teachers to show them how to do things. Students are always keen to use these devices in class room and as 21st century educator it’s our job to facilitate them and integtegre the digital technology in class room. In my project when I used Camtasia to deliver a lecture, students get really excited and they shown a strong desire for this type of learning. They were excited online lectures as they can access them anytime from their home and they can watch them as many times possible.

Analytical thinking and application and Critical thinking is very important part of leaning. It is not enough to learn the knowledge but students should learn to how use this knowledge in different situations.  For this purpose in my project I use different case questions at the end of the lectures which requires students to do analytical and critical thinking.

Communication skill is an important skill. In my project students are required to join discussion boards after lectures and share their ideas and comments on other ideas as well. This task provides them opportunity to share their ideas in words and improve their communication skills.

Understanding the "bigger picture" is the ultimate goal of the course. Students should be able to use this knowledge not only in class or in a particular course but they should apply this knowledge at their work as much as possible. For this reason student are engaged in real life case studies which obviously cover the solution orientation as well.

It is our job to provide awareness to students what they are accountable for. As in many cases students don’t realize that they will be held responsible for the actions they perform online. For this reason I provide Do and Don’t list to students when they are communicating with each other on discussion boards.

I try my best to mentor my students but always promote them to become mentee of other teachers and their elders as well. As it will broaden their thinking and vision.

As mentioned in the second articles we as educators should focus on teaching students how to get authentic information and how they should use this information in their projects or assignments. Once students have clear guidelines they will follow them and produce projects which will reflect their own work. For example in my Leadership course students are require to write a project report of 1000 words. Before starting the task I provide them following guidelines.

• They can search online and download material from anywhere for information purpose. (Use Internet or Library )

• They have to make sure information provided is correct.  (Verify the information)
• How to reference any material  (Proper References )
• Use only the ideas not copy the sentences (Write in your own words)

Once they finish their work they have to upload it on Safe assign. This software will evaluate their work against Internet and other students work and show them the percentage of plagiarism in their work. It will also highlight the areas which have been copied in their project. Students will instantly know their mistakes and they will do the assignment properly and resubmit it before deadline.

Gamification: Using Game Mechanics to Enhance eLearning

As mentioned in the article it is very important to occupy the attention of the student or in short get them engage when using e-learning. We need to develop their wants and liking for successful e-learning and this can be done only by rewarding learners.

I have used some of the ideas in my eLearning project for occupying student’s attention that are presented in the article. It is very important to have clear goals and objective and to have rewards that are associated with these goals. If objectives are clear to students from the beginning then it is easy to grab their attention. For this purpose I always explain in advance what are the objectives, outcome and rewards associated with the particular task to students.

In my project before using the eLearning material I gave students an online pre-test which highlight current knowledge of the students. There are some (reward) marks associated for attempting this test, which encourage all students to attempt this pre- test. After doing the test want will develop among the students to learn the words and definitions that they were not able to understand during the test.  They are then provided with eLearning material which helps them to learn things which were unclear to them earlier. Students have already idea about the types of questions from the pre-test which help them to focus on the material. Once they finish the material all students have to do a post-test. This posttest shows their improvement and learning from the eLearning material. Students can see a big difference between the pre-test and posttest marks. The posttest (reward) marks are recorded in the overall grades. This technique used in my project is similar to the “Linear flow of Goal” model mentioned in the article.

With help of posttest and pretest it becomes easier to measure the progress of students and helps in providing them feedback that how they can further improve. In some cases students feedback also help to improve or simplify the e-learning material. Using e-learning and rewarding motivate students to get involved in the task as they can see their peers are learning knowledge while getting rewarded.

Mobile learning

I have read chapter 3 “Using a smartphone to create digital teaching episodes as resources in adult education” and chapter 13 “Designing principle for mobile learning” for week nine task.

Chapter three provide us detail that how we as teachers can create digital narratives using smartphones which can be used as resource in our teaching and training. This task highlights the strengths and benefits of the technology and the pedagogical approaches involved in using mobile technology. The educational technology I have chosen also require to create a digital video episode for students using camtasia which can provide post learning to students before coming to class. I can use the below questions which I learn from the article for finding effectiveness of using this educational technology tool.

• ·         What were the advantages of creating teaching episode?
• ·         What were the disadvantages or challenges of using the devices?
• ·         What were the most difficult aspects of creating a teaching episode?
• ·         What were the most positive aspects of the task?
• ·         How useful were digital videos as a tool for teaching?

My personal belief is that in future mobile learning will play an important role in education. Lot of research is going on in this field. As mentioned in the article “Designing principle for mobile learning” there are many reasons for using this as an educational technology tool. Some of them are: Students can afford it, they know how to use it and it provides them real word relevance. They can use it anywhere, anytime with anyone.  

Designing principles plays an important role for laying foundation of any educational tool. Without proper designing principles it is very difficult to use the technology for learning. I have chosen following designing principles for implementing my project. 

1. Real world relevance : Use learning in authentic contexts

2. Mobile contexts:  Use learning in contexts where learners are mobile

3. Whenever: Use learning spontaneously

4. Wherever: Use learning in non- traditional learning spaces

5. Whomsoever: Use learning both individually and collaboratively

6. Affordances: Exploit the affordances of technologies

Reflect on relevant literature

Flipped class room is relatively a new concept and it is mostly used in western world. It has not been applied in Middle East so far and I think it has great potential for higher education students especially in UAE. Students can pace them self and work independently using flip class room. They can attend missed lectures and do catch up. Using flip class room students will get more chance to work on application and problem solving with teachers. They can also use these video for revision and exam preparation as well. People who have used flipped class room have an excellent and positive experience with it. It has not only increased students learning but as well as their grades. Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams from Woodland park high school invented flip class room concept for their college but it has tremendously picked up and is now used worldwide as mentioned on their blog.

The pedagogical approach used in flip class room focuses teaching time on solving problem, case studies and application with students rather teaching them boring theories in class. Theories students can learn on their own by watching digital videos outside class time.

The challenging part for implementing flip class room at HCT will be to make digital videos simple, interesting and in small portions. 40 min lecture will be boring for students and they will get more confuse. It will be good to break the lecture into chunks of 5 to 7 min. This will not only help students to develop better understanding but it will also maintain their interest as well.

My next step is to create story line for minimum two chapters and then convert it into digital format using Camtasia. I have used an old version on Camtasia and I am hopeful that new version will have more advance options.

Implementation Plan

I have chosen business semester one course Management and Leadership for this project, this course introduces students to the basics of management issues and leadership styles. Learning outcomes for the course are:

1.       Understand the functions of management and the role of managers working both individually   and in teams.

2.       Describe the pros and con of a range of traditional and contemporary organizational structures.

3.       Describe the different methods and styles of management that leaders use to manage/motivate/lead and the impact they have on organizational effectiveness, with special emphasis on the UAE.

4.       Investigate and discuss emerging issues in management and leadership.

The assessment type is divided into four parts as shown below. First three assessments focus on the practical activates. The last activity is based on combination of cognitive response and selective response using a Black Board Vista online exam.

The educational technology product I have chosen for this task is camtasia ( http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html ). It is an excellent product to show students how to do anything or in simple words to present a lecture. It is used mostly in explaining technological stuff so far but I think it can offer more than that as shown in the video shared by Adnan earlier ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc&feature=player_embedded ).

Most of our students joining bachelors program have IELTS Band 5 but it is difficult for them to understand business vocabulary. To overcome this I am planning to develop lecture using camtasia. These lectures will provide following additional value in achieving learning goals.

1. It will provide explanation of difficult and unknown vocabulary.

2. Provide understanding of the topic to students before coming to class.

3. Post lecture students can learn from these video if anything is not clear to them.

4. Student who will miss class due to some reason can catch up with help of these videos.

5. It will help students to refresh their concepts before exams as well.

Professional learning network - Technology and Course

Part 1:  Professional learning network

If we give a minute and think about PLN then I think we all agree that we start developing PLN the day we started school and since then it keeps growing every year. Now it includes colleagues from our previous and current work and many people outside work. This network has helped all of us to learn and develop new skills. Thanks to modern age technology Facebook, link din and many more we can link to social networks and as well as professional learning networks at any time.

Being in IT profession one of the main disadvantage is that you always have to keep yourself update. Technology that you are using today will be outdated in coming years and will be replaced by something better. If you want to stay in profession then you have to learn the new technology. Having said that it’s almost impossible to remember that how each tool work and how to configure it.  For this reason we IT professional heavily rely on PLN. I started using online professional learning network, when I was working as network engineer. At that time we were implementing some new technology at our organization. As it was new we don’t have any experience in it and we were looking for help. I joined an online community of professionals and got answers from experts all around the world.

PLN that I am currently part of are link-din, Oracle, Microsoft and Cisco online communities. HCT colleagues are also part of my PLN. I have learned a lot from these personal leaning networks. Professional vendor network have help me in understanding new technologies and how to implement them.  PLN at HCT helped me in teaching and delivering my courses. Every semester we have to teach two to three new courses and with help PLN we can share our materials with each other and don’t have to reinvent the wheel again. For example this semester twenty different teachers in different colleges are teaching accounting course. Instead of each teacher making course project with the help of PLN we all decided and to develop a common project.

Part 2: Technology and Course

I have chosen business semester one course Management and Leadership for this project. The technology that I will use in this course will be either Camtasia or Screencast-o-matic. I have used Camtasia three to four years back to show users how to configure their mailbox. I haven’t used it to deliver a proper class lecture. I think this is right time when I can use this technology to create my lectures so that students can access them to have better understanding of the concepts.

My Experience of Education Technology

My name is Owais Tariq and I am working as IT/ Business Faculty for HCT Madinat Zayed and Ruwais Colleges. I live in Abu Dhabi and drive daily four hours to work. I did my Bachelors and Masters in Information Technology and Second Master’s in Business Administrator. I have expertise both in IT and Business area. I have been teaching courses like networking, programming, databases, accounting, marketing, management, human resource to bachelor level students.

I am using educational technology for last five years both as a teacher and as a student. During my Master some of my courses were online where I have to do online reading, discussion and assignments and this was only possible because of educational technology tools. In our colleges we are using BBVista and Pearson Lab to provide online learning to our students. These are very important tools for our colleges as most of our staff and students are travelling daily for four to five hours. Some of the other important tools that we use on daily basis are interactive boards and joint distance video class rooms to deliver our lectures. We are teaching in two different colleges which are 180Km apart and with the help joint distance video class rooms we deliver classes without being physically present on campus.  

If we look back 10 to 15 years we will see getting knowledge was much more difficult as compare to now. We didn’t have Internet and computers at school and colleges. Technology was rarely used in education and there were very few educational technology tools available which were not affordable by every institute. Teachers used to come in class and deliver their lectures on board or maximum use overhead projectors to show illustrations. If student miss one class then he has to read books and request his friends to help him. Even reading books didn’t guarantee him that he will be able to understand everything on his own. Redundant research was going on as there was no way to share existing research globally.

Education technology has changed all of that and it has made the life of student and teacher much simpler as compare to old day. It has brought a positive change in teaching methodologies. Now teacher can explain their taught using multimedia tools which students can understand more easily and quickly. With the help of these tools students can now learn outside the class and can engage with studies more interactively which we all agree is a positive change. One of the biggest change and advantage of educational tools for me is the collaboration and sharing of knowledge. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel any more. We can share knowledge and learn from other experiences.

I agree with author of “Ten reasons for using education technology” that these basic fundamental reasons rules can clearly justify the use of technology in education. Most of the reasons which come to my mind for using technology in education are mentioned in this article. Like by showing real interactive examples we can increase the level of understanding of students. We can gain knowledge any place and at any time with help of mobile technologies. We can collaborate and learn from others quickly. Some of the other reasons of using education technology which are not mentioned in this article can be:

1.      Saving our planet by not cutting trees to print more papers

2.      Providing learning environment for disable people

Lifelong Learning - More than Training

I agree with Fisher’s ("Lifelong Learning - More than Training") theory as we all know that learning is the part of life which takes place any time and any place. It is a continuous lifelong process, going on from birth to the end of our life, beginning with learning from families, communities, schools, religious institutions, workplaces, etc.

Today’s economic environment and challenged workforce have dramatically increased the needs and demands of learners to retool their capabilities, acquire new competencies and align knowledge to the emerging new economy to avoid being laid off. At the same time, teachers within traditional education institutions, colleges and universities, are aggressively seeking new sources of knowledge and technology to adapt and meet the new challenging and changing environmental needs as well as teachers strive hard to incorporate technical and scientific real life problem solving applications to their courses work through continuing education so that these applications could be applied to the practical life.

Lifelong learning can instill creativity, initiative and responsiveness in people thereby enabling them to show adaptability in post-industrial society through enhancing skills to manage uncertainty, communicate across and within cultures, sub-cultures, families and communities, and negotiate conflicts. The emphasis is on learning to learn and the ability to keep learning for a lifetime. Learning Society looks beyond formal educational environments and locates learning as a quality not just of individuals but also as an element of systems like Fisher also emphasized learning as quality.

In the last few years, technology has played a vital role in the way we learn and acquire new knowledge. For example: Now days Internet, mobile phones and PDA knowledge has become very popular and is in everyone’s hands and finger tips. We can learn and take advantage of these tools to learn new things in a timely manner. I remember last week a group of students came to me and had a query regarding the Critical Path method for the Project Management course. It took me a minute to find the information utilizing technological facilities to resolve their problem within a very short span of time.

In higher education and even secondary education system, the teaching approaches have changed drastically over last decade. Traditional educational systems, in which the teacher was the sole source of knowledge, are ill suited to equip people to work and live in a knowledge economy. I remember when I was in school my teachers use to explain Newton’s law of gravity and other theories but we never got the chance to know its practical implications and the importance of these theories in the real life at that time. Main goal at that time was to complete the course within certain time period whether student understand  the concepts or not and make sure he gets good grades for the school’s reputation. So for most of the students these theories seemed useless at that time until we get to use these laws in our practical life. In the traditional system teachers dictate facts to learners who seek to learn them only in order to be able to repeat them. But over the last 20 years teaching methods have changed considerably. The other day when I was going through my nephew’s course project regarding the laws of gravity including Newton’s law, I was very happy to see that these days students of grade 5 are learning practical implication of these laws rather than memorizing them only. Definitely he has much more clear knowledge and expertise than me when I was his age and surely he will remember it for the life time. So we can say that education methods are developing to meet the needs of practical life and they are shifting from training to lifelong continuous learning.

In this era new curriculum and new teaching methods have been established for the students. Online and distance learning programs are considered as some of the methods implemented to achieve this goal e.g. PGDC. Teachers and trainers serve as facilitators rather than transmitters of knowledge, and more emphasis is placed on learning by doing, working on teams, and thinking creatively. The lifelong learning enables learners to acquire more of the new skills demanded by the knowledge economy.  

One of the major impacts on lifelong experiences we can see is the use of technology in the education system. When I was in school, technology was not a major part of the education system and it was not mandatory to learn how to use computers? Most of the work was done manually even in the office set up. But in today’s world every field require the involvement of computer and Internet. In order to prepare students for the practical life now schools, colleges and universities have incorporated technology based labs to acquire more up to date skills from the beginners’ level. As a result youth have smart solutions to the problem which we adults cannot even think of.

In my opinion lifelong learning is such that educators are guides to sources of knowledge, educators serve as facilitators for the student's acquisition of knowledge, People learn by doing, or Action Learning, People learn in groups and from each other, Assessment is used to guide learning strategies and to identify pathways for future learning, Educators are lifelong learners. Initial training and ongoing professional development are linked, People have access to learning opportunities over a lifetime, Learning is put into practice, and Learners reflect upon learning and analyze their personal development.

A number of important socio-economic forces are pushing for the lifelong learning approach. The increased pace of globalization and technological change, the changing nature of work and the labor market, and the ageing of populations are among the forces emphasizing the need for continuing upgrading of work and life skills throughout life. It has also been said that: “Lifelong learning's core values of learning, exploring, and serving, coupled with benefits for the mind; body and spirit make it an incredibly powerful tool for personal transformation and enhancement.” Nancy Merz Nordstrom, M.Ed., lists the top 10 benefits of lifelong learning as such:

1.    Lifelong learning helps fully develop natural abilities.

2.    Lifelong learning opens the mind.

3.    Lifelong learning creates a curious, hungry mind.

4.    Lifelong learning increases our wisdom.

5.    Lifelong learning makes the world a better place.

6.    Lifelong learning helps us to adapt to change.

7.    Lifelong learning helps us find meaning in our lives.

8.    Lifelong learning keeps us involved as active contributors to society.

9.    Lifelong learning helps us make new friends and establish valuable relationships.

10. Lifelong learning leads to an enriching life of self-fulfillment.

In higher education system, we can see Fisher theory turning into reality as now a day all courses or programs focus not on training but to provide the practical learning experience.

At HCT we have launched a new bachelor program where the focus is more on providing the learning experience to students. Assessments are not based on theoretical exams but they are based on the real life experiences and how things are done in a practical manner so that students can relate the theories to their work. I believe that this is just a beginning of the change in education system. Definitely we will see the bet more dramatic changes over the coming years. Student will be having more advanced knowledge and expertise as of today’s world.

Impact of society on the structures and practices of education

Over the last few decades the society has played a great role in the advancement of the structures and practices of education. I believe that various cultures within the society have a major impact on its education system and its effectiveness.

Educational structures and practices are influenced greatly by various societal factors including norms, culture, development, traditions and beliefs. Education is not only the mode of learning facts and figures. Most of our learning actually happens when we observe and learn from those around us. In this aspect, the society and the people who belong to it play a major role. Society includes our family, friends, relatives and the people who live in our community, county or even our country.

I was lucky in this case because people around me knew and always valued the importance of knowledge and education. More over this my family provided all the necessary resources to get the education easily and freely from the university because we belonged to the middle class society who realized the need of education for future development. On the other hand people in impoverished societies lack resources which have great impact on education system. Often the children of such societies cannot afford costly books, computers, laboratories or practical work and may have to take out a living themselves. In such societies, bare literacy is sometimes all that the people can afford.

Societal values also greatly impact education. In many underdeveloped countries where female emancipation and freedom is lacking, almost half the population (females) has severely curbed or curtailed education. This is due to the ignorance and prevalence of age-old customs and traditions. On the other hand, in USA and many European countries, gender based differences in education are not present. This illustrates how the customs and traditions prevalent in some specific societies influence education.

Technology has played a major role in developing the societies. I still remember when I was in school, computer studies were offered from grade nine as it was not very common among the people. There was less usage of computers as people were not aware of what computers could do? But now when I see the same school having computer studies from grade one and onwards, it truly reflects how people’s awareness drastically increased and how society’s demand changes the structure of education and brought a good change in the system and procedures. This proves that the power of society changes the structure and procedures of education. There is a high impact of evolving commercial, political, and institutional interests of society on the development of technology. Educational technology in particular has been and is being shaped by these societal forces. Increased awareness of societal shaping should lead us to new research areas, and ultimately to more democratic, more fruitful, and more viable educational innovations like the development of advance and intelligent computer systems.

Society also controls technology through the choices it makes. These choices not only include consumer demands; they also include: the cultural beliefs regarding style, freedom of choice, consumerism, materialism, the economic values we place on the environment, individual wealth, government control, capitalism, etc.

As we all know, these little changes in mobile phones and internet access, are examples of technology based lifestyle. Society's need for being able to call on people and be available everywhere resulted in the research and development of mobile phones. They in turn influenced the way we live our lives. As the public relies more and more on mobile phones, additional features were requested. Now is the era of iPhone, iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, so in short societal preferences helped determined the course of events through predictable preferences.

In early days people were unable to continue education due to lack of infrastructure or resources available around them or in their country. But with the help of technology and distance learning options now people can continue their education anytime anywhere around the world. This new virtual learning method and societal encouragement has removed the boundaries and encourages people to learn new things to enhance their knowledge.

So, it goes without saying that the society has a tremendous impact on the structure and practices of education.