smlogs

Visual hierarchy assists learners in finding the important information first before seeing the other related information. It creates a logical flow of content, which can be taken in bit by bit keeping the level of interest in the learner consistent at all times.

Visual hierarchy breaks up the information in the text and finds other ways of expressing the informations such as through pictures and other media. The typestyle including font, size and weight also assists in the segregating of information.

Course will relfect the need for efficient and effective training for the use of palm pilots by merchandisers. Palm pilots are a crucial element in the merchandising process as it acts as the only recorded communication between merchandisers and head office, the palm pilots record the times spent in store, feedback and store visits.

The turnover for merchandisers is high and they are people from a range of educational backgrounds, age groups and learning styles. The merchandisers are casual workers who are often juggling other jobs on the side in addition to personal committments. The merchandisers are also situated all over Australia with only one area supervisor per state and a merchandising manager based in Sydney.

Multimedia would be of value when it comes to teaching the functions of the palm pilot as it would be necessay to emulate the steps that need to be taken to do particular things. Situational job-related circumstances should be presented in animation and the learner should be asked to conclude on the situation and provide the correct steps for the input of data into the plam pilot.  

Multimedia could also be of value for the merchandising of stock in a shop, the merchandisers can be presented with an online program, where they can virtually merchandise their allocated shops as a pilot for the real thing. Creating a higher merchandising standard. This program can be given to new employees as a part of their training package.

 

 

Multimedia is the collaboration of imagery, animation, text and audio into a virtual tool that assists in engaging people in the message that is to be conveyed. Often it is necessary for the user to engage in movements such as clicks, pressing of buttons or moving cursors to select commands. One prominent example is FLASH.  

Multimedia used in e-learning has extended the technological realms of experiential learning. In the examples shown on the websites, the learner is given the opportunity to make decisions and complete job oriented tasks in a virtual environment, with feedback given for choices whether they be correct or incorrect. This type of learning is advantageous for industries that require substantial training before being able to go on the job due to the risks involved.

Multimedia enhances the Web 2.0 learning experience by creating an engaging environment where the learner can see that if they participate in the activities they will recieve relevant feedback and ultimately learn the correct way to deal with situations.

Web 2.0 refers mostly to social networking sites, wikis, blogs, podcasts and RSS. These are mostly interactive as they involve updates and information that is shared by users.

Meaningfulness results in e-learners who will continue use original cognitive structures and not see the new information that is trying to be conveyed. E-learning must cater to its learners by providing information in different ways, so that learners will be able to see the differences in the facilitated materials and create new cognitive structures resulting in the successful acquisition of knowledge.\

 Advanced Organisers can be in the form of ‘adventure’ style activities where learners are expected to complete certain tasks and acquire certain skills before they can move on to other steps. This sequential learning acts as an advanced organiser as it ensures that the information and knowledge is built onto old cognitive structures.

Generalizing in an E-learning context results in a variety of miscommunications as information is mis-interpreted or completely missed by people who do not have the same reaction or stigmas attached to stimuli. Since E-learning is an experiential learning platform, it relys on the use of stimuli to encourage learners to create associations with learning materials. Generalization in this sense could result in the acquisition of incorrect material and as a result wrong information in terms of what they are meant to learn.

Learning is the process of acquiring information that is being transmitted from a facilitator to the learner. It doesn’t matter what a student is being taught or told unless it is accepted and acquired, this highlights the most important aspect of learning and its process. It’s success is dependant on the delivery by the educator as well as the attitude of the recipient.

Virtual worlds can be used in learnign as they can be the platforms for virtual classrooms and encourage experiential learning through the requirement of self directive learning and social discussion. Students can be encouraged to search for additional learning materials and discussion content with people from aroudn the world who have differing skills, knowledge and experience.

Synchronous communication refers to the forms of communication which occur in real-tme, some examples are MSN Messenger, Parts of SECOND LIFE and Web conferencing.

Synchronous communication is immediate and works almost the same as a normal conversation in that feedbacnk and information is immediately available… examples of this are conferencing in company meetings, web classrooms, communication for distance assignments and distant learning.

Current drivers for synchronous communication include the ability to attin information at anytime anywhere.

Asynchronous communication refers to the forms of communication that are not conducted in realtime and not all participants need to be present at one time to transmit informaiton. Exampels inclue Discussion boards, forums and blogs.

Benefits of this technology are that information transmitted is often stored and can be retrieved for later reference. Some drivers for this technology are the increased needs for collaborative learning in organisations and in schools.

Web-based appilications are technologically based forms of communication and sources of information that can be applied as a complementary component or programs such as facebook.

Web 2.0 refers to a new generation of web-based applications such as Ebay, Flickr & RSS.

Web 2.0 focuses on the facilitation of creativity, information sharing and collaboration.

Web-based applications that I am familiar with include Weblogs, Wikis, Chats, Podcasting, Web conferencing, RSS&Aggregation, Social Networking, e-Portfolios and Virtual Worlds.

Applications that I would like to explore further include Podcasting, e-portfolios and RSS.

 RSS is a group of web feed formats used to publish things such as blogs and websites that are frequentl updated. It is a summary of the text that is in a website so that people can keep up to date with information.

RSS can be used in this subject to provide student with update that can range from lecture material to classroom changes and additional informaton that needs to be known.

Aggregation in the combining of multiple RSS feeds such as in a program like NETVIBES. 

The 6 key emerging technologies identified by the 2008 report are:
- Grassroots
- Collaboration Webs
- Mobile Broadband
- Data Mashups
- Collective Intelligence
- Social Operating Systems

Grassroots Video, Mobile Broadband and Collective Intelligence are three forms of technology, which have been mentioned in the 2008 report that I recognise or have used in the past.
Grassroots Videos are used to share videos for a variety of purposes and they are also known as video sharing websites.. a very well known current website that has been popular is YouTube.
Mobile broadband is now accessible from most mobile phones in the forms of ’Planet 3′, ‘Optus World’ and ‘Vodafone Live’, which provde users the ability to access RSS feeds as well as podacasts or other prescriptions from their mobile handset. 
Collective intelligence is the final form that I am accustomed to in the form of wikipedia.

Grassroot videos have been presented in lectures to show presentations by leading theorists, which would not have been as effective or possible if it had been shown in any other way.
Collective intelligence is also used in group presentations through the use of a wiki.

 The emerging technologies of 2007  are prevalent in many learning context and are very much a part of higher education and learning. Virtual worlds, social networking, user created context, distance education and educational gaming have all become a very realistic aspect of current technology.