Speculate: Technology for the next 5000 days

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

On Teaching by Kahlil Gibran

I enjoyed Kak Mie and Kak Wan presentation. Is that because they are my great teammates or what? Heheheh... no lah. I'm just sooooo into technology!

But things which makes me dissapointed, the real situation in our school (or maybe in MY school only):

1. do not ask about the technology, the PC that supplied by the government is not enough to cater students of a classroom. How can we implement the use of technology if in the F2F synchonous environment pun, we are not able to do so (because of the lack of tools)?
2. internet. We do know that internet, the world wide web, offers us numerous resources to be used in our classroom. The question is, how many of teachers know the existance of wikis, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, web 2.0 and etc.? Even one time I asked my colleague her emel address, she don't have any!

We want to use the technology, but do we aware of it existance?

Pada pendapat saya, di negara kita pendedahan (baru pendedahan, belum penggunaan!) masih lagi baru dan terhad. Kita masih jauh ketinggalan dari segala jenis teknologi yang telah ada laman maya. Di sekolah saya sendiri, penggunaan PowerPoint dalam p&p sudah dianggap sangat hebat dan lain dari yang lain.

Saya tak dapat membuat spekulasi akan teknologi akan datang. Saya masih lagi teraba-raba hendak menggunakan teknologi yang ada sekarang ;( Saya rasa banyak yang perlu dilakukan oleh pelbagai pihak untuk memungkinkan teknologi benar-benar berada di hujung jari, bukan sekadar retorik kosong yang sedap didengar tetapi tidak terlaksanakan.

Maaf, saya sedikit emosi menulis entry ini kerana saya merasa sedikit tertekan dengan tekanan dan halangan yang ada di sekolah. Kadang-kadang beban tugas yang entah apa-apa mengurangkan masa guru untuk explore dan menggunakan teknologi yang ada. Buktinya, LCD yang terpasang di setiap kelas di sekolah saya (contoh), berhabuk tidak digunakan. Banyak sebab yang menyumbang kepada keadaan ini, saya pasti, tapi saya tidak bercadang mengupasnya.

Saya menggemari teknologi dan saya berharap satu hari nanti pendidikan di negara kita benar-benar disokong oleh teknologi.

No electricity, no technology?

I'll postpone my reflection on Zamiah and Wan's presentation.

It's Earth Hour ;)

Check list menjelang exam DE

1. prototype
2. e-poster
3. launchig the prototype
4. reflection on prototype 3-4 pages
5. discussion on wikis
6. reflection on wikis 1-2 pages

go go caiyokkk!!!!!

Benchmark, standard & best practice

Definitions of benchmark on the Web:
= a standard by which something can be measured or judged; "his painting sets the benchmark of quality"
= a surveyor's mark on a permanent object of predetermined position and elevation used as a reference point

> wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn



= a standard by which something is evaluated or measured; a surveyor's mark made on some stationary object and shown on a map; used as a reference ...

> en.wiktionary.org/wiki/benchmark



= A measurement or standard that serves as a point of reference by which process performance is measured. ...

> www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm



= Reference point or standard against which performance or achievements can be assessed.

> www.who.int/hac/about/definitions/en/index.html



= A standard against which the performance of a security, index or investment can be measured.

> www.aflcio-hit.com/wmspage.cfm



= A standard used for comparison. For example, the performance of some index mutual funds is compared to the performance of the S&P 500® Index which serves as a benchmark.

> www.schwab-global.com/public/schwab-gcb-en/investing_from_outside_the_us/glossary


= A reference index that serves as a basis for performance comparison.

> www.kayne.com/glossary.shtml



....... and the list goes on.....



After listening to Fazu and Mosaiyeb, it pop in my mind that Malaysian University English Test (MUET) grading is one of the example for this topic. In MUET, students who are very good user, very good command of the language, highly expressive, fluent, accurate and appropriate language: hardly any inaccuracies, very good understanding of language and contexts, functions extremely well in the language - will get Band 6.



As I understand, Band 6 is the benchmark and the criterias are the standard.

Definitions of standard on the Web:

> an upright pole or beam (especially one used as a support); "distance was marked by standards every mile"; "lamps supported on standards provided illumination"

> criterion- the ideal in terms of which something can be judged; "they live by the standards of their community"

> a basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated; "they set the measure for all subsequent work"

adjective
1. standard- commonly used or supplied; "standard procedure"; "standard car equipment"

2. standard, stock- regularly and widely used or sold; "a standard size"; "a stock item"

3. standard- established or widely recognized as a model of authority or excellence; "a standard reference work"

4. standard- conforming to or constituting a standard of measurement or value; or of the usual or regularized or accepted kind; "windows of standard width"; "standard sizes"; "the standard fixtures"; "standard brands"; "standard operating procedure"

5. standard, received- conforming to the established language usage of educated native speakers; "standard English" (American); "received standard English is sometimes called the King's English" (British)

(get more from here)

This is my post; version 0.01, with less word from my own ;p

Evaluating DE

At the moment, I'm evaluating AF :)

Frankly, I'm tired and lost of mood. The thought of not completing this reflection for last 2 weeks presentation, makes my stomach ache and I can't just sit and watch tv.

Therefore, to amuse myself, I'll try (mengarutly?) applying AEIOU approach to evaluate AF (Akademi Fantasia, Malaysian's very own La 'Academia/American Idol).

ACCOUNTABILITY- to determine effectiveness and objectives completion, measuring by data taken from project administrative records and documentation.

I do not have legal access to get AF's administrative records and documentation, but we all can confidently assume that the foremost objective of this program is to mencungkil bakat baru dalam bidang nyanyian. Season by season, this programme successfully produce many new, talented singer (Mawi, Zahid and Mila, for example). So I guess, this programme do have accountability.

EFFECTIVENESS- to determine value on project's activities and determine quality, measuring by grades, achievement tests, attitude inventories, surveys and juornal. Focus on participant attitude and knowledge.

Well, the quality of this programme is very questionable. Yes. they manage to mencungkil bakat baru but how far those winners of every season can go in music industry? Yes the participant gain more knowledge on how to sing better, they transform from kampung boy to nationwide hearthrob, their grades are base on how many percent they get on the final concert.

IMPACT- identifying the changes resulted from the project, measuring by longitudinal data studies, qualitative measures.

Such a tsunami impact, Malaysian become very keen to be a singer. Last season, 650 contestants tried their luck and attended the audition. This season, the number increase to 1000 contestants (stated in mStar). This programme get the highest rating, beating out other Astro programme.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT- determine barriers, measuring by the intimately involved evaluator.

Hmmmm.... I think the government approved this kind of programme. It less the burden and tension of nowadays stress of work. Some parents encourage their children to participate; so they can become famous and wealthy. I cannot think of anything that hindered this programme.

UNANTICIPATED CONSEQUENCES- to identify unexpected changes either a positive or negative nature, as direct or indirect result of the project.

Generally, the Malaysian become unprofesional jury of singing :) freely criticizing or voting their favourite contestant. They become the die hard fan for their favourable singer/ contestant. They will give them 150% support after the final concert. They even have their own opinion upon this programme. This help the telco provider to gain more income via sms, the magazines production to gain more profit by printing their stories, the souvenier manufacture become richer by producing products using their names, face or anything that can sell.

I know that AF is nothing to do with distance education, but i think somehow this reality show can be evaluate using AEIOU approach. While typing this entry, it occurs to me that a DE programme are effective if the learners keep coming and enrolling the programme, they won't quit half way through the programme and they improvise their career/ needs after finishing the programme.

After all, the best way to find things out is not to ask the questions at all......

Observe the result.

The New Wiki

What do u think of the new ‘how people learn’ wiki?

After browsing it, I found it very interesting in the way of presentation. Now Dr Tee is talking English J. Still minimal guidance but the questions help me to get into it. The videos are very helping to trigger the mood of active learning.

What helps u learn?

Essential materials in the new wiki help me learn. The guided activities channel my thinking to exact objectives, so that I know what am I suppose to do. I’m not an alien anymore (that’s what I feel).

What gets in the way of your learning?

The time needed to wait the buffering, while time waits for no man. But it’s ok and manageable.

Assessment & DE

I do not clearly understand:
EVALUATION = ASSESSMENT + MEASUREMENT
@ PENILAIAN = PENGUJIAN + PENGUKURAN

I do understand crystal clear:
DIA DEMAM = TERMOMETER + 38°C

Why do instructors/ teachers need to assess their students?

Well, so that they can evaluate what they have done, whether it’s achieved the goals stated earlier or it just a waste of time.

It’s also provided feedback to learners & instructors, remediation and helps to monitor the effectiveness of the instruction.
Assessment also enhances learning, by;
1. Program evaluation
2. Improvement
3. To group the students (we pick students to enrol them in a program, universities etc)
4. Justifications for funding priorities
5. Reporting reports

How do we assess students in DE?

The presenter brought up about cheating. I found that there are device to detect/prevent cheating while sit for exam online.

DE need to provide assessment for the learners, or else it will not become a complete leaning environment.

Copyright & DE Management: by Me & Maryam

Feww, at last! The nervous, the anxious feeling, mixed beyond words to describe. Now I present my reflection on what have we done.


What did you learn from this activity?

· First and foremost, I learnt that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Yeah, this time of presentation I really get that. It’s not me and Mar didn’t plan well but I really thought that we can plan better.
· If we choose the right video clips, it really can trigger the learning process. When I played the video clips, I was relieved to see the reactions. Hehehe... I purposely choose the one with many cartoons on it, since previous presentation everyone (including me) really enjoyed the video clips.
· Copyright in Malaysia is not taken seriously like in western countries. After surfing the internet, I couldn’t found any related article about DE and copyright act in Malaysia. Copyright in Malaysia mostly related to music industry; to prevent piracy.
· DE management is tedious, surely. Again, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
· In F2F environment, instructor get the feedback immediately, it helps to change the strategy if needed. But in DE, things are delay, time consuming, and you just cannot change the way you construct abruptly.

What instructional strategies worked?

· We used lecture mode to deliver our presentation. To assist our presentation, we prepared our eye-catching (that comment really make us smile) PowerPoint slides. Plus the bilingual language (which sounds crazy sometimes) we think it was really worked J
· Thanks to YouTube, we started the presentation with video clips full of cartoons. Yes, the clip was bit jumpy but it helps to get the audiences’ attention.
· The impromptu questions that I asked I thought help the audience to ask deeper, create ‘what if’ situation. So I guess that can replace the activity that we missed (boleh gitu Dr Tee?).

What didn’t work? Why?

· Decent comment from Kak Hana, the writing activity was not suitable (I can’t remember her exact words). Yeah, I have to agree. It doesn’t went like I plan actually.
What would you have done differently?
· I should photocopy the worksheet before presentation (to make sure it be useful), rather than wrote it on whiteboard.
· I should use the prepared slide one by one, to help my audience understand better (we done it very quickly because in our head we have to do the presentation within 1 hour- for 2 big topics, it is surely not enough). Also, to help my lecture according to plan.
· I should plan our presentation more thoroughly, spending some time to ask Dr Tee’s guidance and spending more time to sit and discuss more with Maryam.

Would you implement similar instructional strategies if this was in a DE setting?

· Using the video- yes I would. It helps to prepare the students with basic understanding and break the ice.
· Lecture- yes I would but will try to make it less, so that the learning will be more student-centred more than teacher-centred.
· Writing activities_ yes I would, using blogs and wikis (of cause!)

I frankly would like to thanks my dear partner, Maryam for her contribution and her braveness to deliver our presentation in English (good job dear, u make us proud!)

To class members, thank you for your modest comments, we really appreciated it. For those who still not present yet, heheheheheh.... you will feel lots of butterflies + moth + flies + grasshopper + spider in your stomach ;)

To Dr Tee, forgive us for not asking your guidance through this process of preparing our material. We thought that we need to cover everything on the text books.