How could it be used in this subject?
In this subject, social bookmarking could be used to save and share important links related to subjects studies, so that students could immediately access links that fall under certain categories when they need to access information. Students could also recommend links to other students by posting notes that comment on relevance and reliability.

Video: Social Bookmarking in Plain English

The setting up of my Netvibes account
Refer back to my older post (28 March 2008):
http://tamaraauer.edublogs.org/2008/03/28/rss-and-aggregation/

RSS

My definition of RSS –
RSS is a way of receiving new and efficient information quickly and efficiently, it takes updated information from a number of websites and consolidates this information into a list of short summary headings.

Another definition of RSS - http://www.elearnmag.org/elearn.xml
“RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for sharing and distributing content on the Web. Using an RSS reader, you can view receive regular feeds as new content is posted to eLearn magazine. A number of RSS readers are widely available as downloads on the Web, many for free. Most require that you cut and paste the url below into the reader”.

How can RSS be used in this subject?
It possible for teachers and students in this subject to subscribe to blog post updates. This will provide students access to other students’ blogs to see their latest blog posts and contribute to comments. For teachers, it can act as a tool to assist in keeping tabs on when students have posted blog entries.

What is an e-Journal?
An electronic version of a journal that is found and read on the Web.

What is an e-Newsletter?
An electronic newsletter, published on-line, often distributed through e-mail to a list of subscribers.

Why read other people’s weblogs?
Reading other people’s weblogs helps you to stay in contact with them and up to date with current news. For example I read my cousin’s blog to keep up to date with the happenings that go on in his life over the other side of the world. This blog is a way for him to share not just news but also thoughts and feelings on current issues. Many of his friends write back expressing their thoughts through comments. http://eliamariutti.spaces.live.com/blog/

How do you judge their relevance? Credibility? Authenticity?
Unless a blog is an official blog that is published by a credible entity then it is not credible or authentic.

Official Blog examples that are credible:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
http://blog.secondlife.com/
http://www.blogtoplist.com/rss/deutsche-bank.html

Where do you start searching?
Blog Search Engines:
http://blogsearch.google.com/
http://www.blogsearchengine.com/

How do you subscribe?
You can subscribe to the RSS feeds by looking for this symbol:

RSS is a way of receiving new and efficient information quickly and efficiently, it takes updated information from a number of websites or blogs and consolidates this information into a list of short summary headings, which you can view on sites such as netvibes.

When told that I could set down some ground rules, I asked people to make sure that they wrote more than three words at a time. Although this rule was good in theory, people began to interrupt the structured debate format with silly statements, which created ‘chat chaos’. It didn’t help that we were all in the room together while doing this, because talking accompanied thought about what to write about during the chat session.

Another thing that I am finding hard is integrating simple technologies (blogs and videos) with more complex technologies like webinars. If I use asynchronous technologies in the first section and then go to a webinar, I will need to place time limits ie. 1 month deadlines for different sessions. Otherwise if option strands aren’t all similar lengths learners will not all move onto the next strand together so there won’t be an adequate number of learners ready to participate in a synchronous learning activity.

The Psychology of Colour

BLUE

Blue projects the idea of being under control, being calm and collected.

RED

Red is a hot colour and denotes the idea of danger

Choose colours to convey the following:

Aggression RED

Friendly PURPLE

Solid ORANGE

Weak CREAM

Serious GREY

Depressed GREEN/BLUE

The colour quiz

 A quote by Tay Vaughan (1998):

“At the beginning of a project, the screen is a blank canvas, ready for you, the multimedia designer, to express your craft. The screen will change again and again during the course of your project as you experiment, as you stretch and reshape elements, draw new objects and throw out old ones, and test various colors and effects – creating a vehicle for your message…many multimedia designers are known to experience a mild shiver when they pull down the New… menu and draw their first colors onto a fresh screen…this screen represents a powerful and seductive avenue for channelling creativity.”

I find Vaughan’s comments to be encouraging and positive. As I have an interest in art, I can associate with the “blank canvas” image, however for me an element of inspiration is also necessary at the start of the designing process as without inspiration or the generation of creative ideas, nothing new can be made.

1. If you have an animation showing steps and describing text

Problem: while you view you cannot read

Solution: use narrated animation (modality effect helps you to understand it better)

2. If the pace of the animation is too fast and the content is too rich

Problem: you can’t engage deeper with the content, cognitive overload

Solution: break down the animation into segments – segmenting. Use short breaks or otherwise, give learners prior instruction – penetrating

3. If you have an animation that is too fast with background music

Problem: Incidental processing is occurring

Solution: Weeding – to reduce the load. Make the narration concise and coherent – get rid of irrelevant material. Signalling – guide the learners through the cognitive process using key words in headings.

Colourful Websites that are jam packed with multimedia:

• www.mcdonalds.com.au/
• www.barbie.everythinggirl.com/

The Seven Principals of Multimedia Design

1.       Multimedia Principal - Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.

2.       Spatial Contiguity Principle – How easy is it for your eyes to move? Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.

3.       Temporal Contiguity Principle – Don’t miss the message, present corresponding words and pictures together.

4.       Coherence Principle – Animation distracts. Don’t use sounds. Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.

5.       Redundancy Principle - Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text.

6.       Individual Differences Principle – Design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners and for high-spatial learners rather than low-spatial learners

Provided examples of multimedia elements you would recommend:

Videos – I would recommend videos with narration. I would also ensure that there is no background noise to distract learners and no text to draw attention away from the images. Presenting scenarios in videos is a good method of learning however, if I am to include scenarios, I would want real life videos and not animation videos.

How can we use Advance Organisers in e-Learning contexts?

The way we present content with technology must be considered. We need to start with simple activities and progress to more complex content by using technology to structure the sequence of what will be learnt and when.

What effect might e-Learning contexts have for the Humanist approach?

To learn by doing you need technology that can facilitate this: Practice and practical simulations and first hand experience through videos. Encourage learners to participate, express themselves and be self-determined. Create a non-competitive environment that is cooperative. A humanist approach could use e-learning as a resource of ideas, concepts and actions that they must be encouraged to go out and achieve in the real world, in their workplaces. The e-learning context can be used as a way for them to reflect on the experience they had and report back to other learners with further stimulus.

The Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre provides client-centered services to people within the Kirribilli and lower North Shore area. These services range from family and children programs such as play groups and parental yoga classes, to senior programs such as the Chinese social support group and the senior stretch and exercise class. A counseling service and legal advice is also offered by a qualified councillor and layer. The workers at this neighborhood centre receive funding from DoCS in order to run their youth and family programs. Below is a copy of part of their Youth and Family brochure:

A photo of the neighbourhood centre taken from the outside.