Learning Challenges

Finally... about the learning challenges...

What role did the supervisor play?
In this case, Alex did a great job facilitating our online tutorial sessions. Many a times, during these sessions, there were numerous period of total silence - :-) - especially whenever Alex (after doing a long elaboration of a point) suddenly asks a question, all of us will just keep quiet. It wasn't due to the fact we purposely did that, but really, at times, I don't even know where to start or how to answer because my brains will be still processing on what he was saying earlier and not on answering the question (wakarimas-ka? I think those of you who were in my group, you'll understand what I'm trying to say here).

I do like the online tutorial sessions and thought that it was a cool idea to conduct tutorials through skype. Because of this, I'm thinking of incorporating this in my lectures next time round. I particularly like the fact that our blogs are read by not only our set members, but are also diligently read and commented on by Alex. THANKS! I really love getting comments and feedback. At least it makes all the efforts of writing and updating our blog worthwhile.

So, Alex, THANKS for being always patient, helpful and full of suggestions. I believe I will also miss your "questions". :-)

What have I learnt from people's comments and feedback?
I've learnt so much from my set members' feedback and comments that they left in my blog. At the same time, I've learnt a lot from my set members' blogs. A good example is when Seok Binn posted her daughter's keyboard recital through You Tube, really inspired me to do one myself too. There was a time when I forgot how to use certain things, I managed to get the answers from my set members' blogs. I like Melinda's blogs because she really takes the time to list out everything step-by-step on what she had done. This helps "lazy" people like me a lot. :-)

THANKS fellow set-members for making your blogs another resource for me to use during this course of e-learning programme. I truly appreciate it.

Usage of numerous web based technologies

Well, I have to admit, prior to this Learning to eLearn module, I only use the internet to get into my yahoo account, google search for images/contents when I prepare my training materials, use the usual microsoft office programmes... only just recently explored on facebook and blog (this was because I wanted to document my numerous travel experiences somewhere). So this particular module was definitely an eye-opener. I've learnt that the internet provides us with limitless avenues of seeking knowledge and information.

YOU TUBE - a personal favourite. I now use lots of You Tube clips to add value into my training materials so that my training will become more interesting and participants will be able to understand certain concepts better. A take home lesson from this would be when I was inspired by Seok Binn to do a video taping of myself reading out part of our Mission Code Name presentation slide. Actually did not have any knowledge on how to do it. Had to learn through trial and error as well as managed to get a step-by-step instruction on how to do so in You Tube.

How To Make a Video for YouTube Uploading Videos on YouTube.flv
(don't know why the You Tube clip couldn't be downloaded despite trying to do so for more than 8 hours. So I guess you'll have to search for it yourself, while I figure out what happened later)

So what I did was looked at the above video, followed it to the "T". Checked out other information, found out that I had to download ImTOOMP4Video Converter so that I can convert .MOV to MPEG-4. Tried twice using .MOV (which is direct from the my digital camera) to upload into You Tube but after nearly 2 hours, each time, an error message will pop up. As I was unable to upload with .MOV, that's why I tried to convert the file into MPEG-4. Before that, I also checked on the length of the video (thinking that it could be a reason why I couldn't upload) but found out that my video was less than 10 minutes and the size was definitely less than 100MB. So, why couldn't it be uploaded??? It was quite frustrating. However, through sheer perserverance, I tried and tried and tried and guess what, finally, I could upload the YOU TUBE and everything turned out fine. HOORAY!!

Another useful site is SLIDESHARE. The contributors to slideshare are real gems. I've also found a slideshare (refer to earlier posting) that shows very clearly on how to share slides and upload into the blog.

MINDMEISTER - A great tool to use when brainstorming as it captures all ideas and team members can use Mind Meister simultaneously. Our ALS has used this rather effectively. The only concern is that the trial period expires pretty quickly and our mindmaps will not be accessible after that. One thing that we could do is to save it in another file and work from there.

ELGG - I know this was like a "monster" experience for some... but for me, ELGG worked fine. I love the idea that one can post up questions up on the discussion board and other members could comment on them. That way, learning takes place. I know I can use this in one of my existing classes... but the very thought of getting them to sign up and use ELGG faithfully is another matter. I know ELGG has many functions that we haven't truly explored yet.

WIKIS - sad to say, I haven't really been using this, but I think this comes in handy especially when one wants to capture important words/concepts that could be easily accessed.

AUDACITY - lovely tool to record conversations, discussions, recording of singing, etc. I definitely will experiment this and learn more details on how to do editing on the recording. Now that would be my next challenge. I need to know this so that when I develop new training materials for my English programme, I can use Audacity to develop listening recordings/scripts.

GMAIL - never realised how useful GMAIL is. It's better than YAHOO, with more functions. However, we were wondering whether is it true that shared documents cannot be amended simultaneously by different set members? If not, functions of shared calendar, shared documents, online chats, etc. really come in handy.

I believe there are more web based technologies... but the above are the ones that I used and will continue to use in future.

The learning process...

Found this really great learning cycle which I can relate too. It's simple, to the point and succint. Not too sure who came out with this diagram but found it in one of the websites - http://www.interconnections.co.uk/Market/PCFG/learning.htm

Why I prefer this to KOLB's Reflective Learning Cycle is that the above learning cycle is less complicated. The cycle talks about 4 stages - doing, reflecting, linking and planning.

DOING - most of the time, that's how adults learn best. You need to be directly involved in the practical/hands-on part for learning to take place. In our ALS, we do this all the time.

REFLECTING - in our case, this can be seen through our personal blogs that provides us with an outlet for self-reflection as well as for others to comment on our reflections and learn from them. I know I've learnt a lot from the personal blogs of our set members. It not only makes interesting reads, but sometimes, really inspires you to check something out or try something new yourself.

LINKING - we have been doing this all the time throughout the 6 weeks. A lot of the learning process is through linking where we "make connections between experience and ideas" and how these are linked/connected to certain concepts or models.

PLANNING - as learning is an ongoing process, this stage "enables us to modify our actions by deciding how we will do them differently the next time round". Personally, I would have tried updating my blog on a daily basis so as to capture all the essence or immediate reactions/feelings during the learning process. Maybe, I would have practiced more using Mind Meister as when the set members were using it during our Skype online discussion, I couldn't access it and did it together with them.

Traditionally, learning has been associated with reading books, attending
courses and lectures, etc. However, real learning is not just about acquiring
information, but about engaging with it and integrating it so that it affects
not only your thinking but also your behaviour. It has been shown that there are
many different ways to learn, some more suitable to than others.

It's Now or Never... a personal take

I was telling myself, it's now or never. GET down to updating your blog and get it over and done with. Wish I had more time so that I can really have an on-time updating of the blog and that would make it more meaningful. Oh well, will just have to try to make the best of the whole situation.

Ok...I guess the best way to start would be "Let's start from the very beginning... [tune sung by Maria in the Sound of Music]

Actually joined the Learning to eLearn programme because a) wanted to understand the module so that I can promote it better the next time round b) to make up the small number of participants. Came into the class with zero expectation, but then was thrown into the deep end by Alex when he asked us to reflect and come up with a long list of questions. That triggered a lot of other questions that popped into my head. Of course, we had to also get used to our group members which I had 2 from DISTED and Melinda who was new to me then. So a bit apprehensive on the whole thing and how the whole day would turn out to be.

Alex covered quite a lot during the 2-day workshop session. I thought it would have been better if we could really get hands-on experience rather than just listening to him in class. That way, we could follow-through together with his explanation, hence making learning eaasier. But maybe that couldn't be carried out due to our IT facilities - not too sure about it. On Day 2, some of us brought our own laptops. Felt that helped a fair bit because we could really test out the things Alex pointed out. However, lost him half way through Day 2 as I ran into some problems getting into Mind Meister as well as using the Whiteboard. To make matters worse, had to also decide immediately whether to take the easy way out and just join the workshop (for the fun of it) or to take it seriously and join the full module. That means I'd have to committ at least 6 weeks of my time spent learning on this module. In the end, thought, "why not... might as well take up the challenge and see what happens". Towards the end of Day 2, I had to gulp down 2 Panadols due to a raging headache. :-)

TAKE HOME LESSON:
1. Nothing is impossible if one has the passion to learn new things, willingness to try and explore, not shy to ask for help when needed, most are also in the same boat as you.
[How true. Based on personal experience, I don't think I would've survived this module if I didn't promise myself that whatever happens, I will give it my all and try my best to learn as much as I can. I also liked the way Alex played the "hands-off" role - with the exception during the online tutorials - as this enables us to learn independantly and really explore/discover our latent abilities. This is so different from classroom teaching where students expect teachers to spoon-feed every time. A quote from Lao Tzu very aptly sums this feeling "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Thank you, Alex for doing just that. I really appreciate the whole learning process.]

2. Always generate questions in the beginning so that at the end, you can check whether all those questions have been answered by yourself.
[Initially I really detested this part. Each time we speak to Alex, or even during the online discussion board in ELGG, he will always generate questions from our answers. I feel as if my head is being squeezed like an orange whenever I try to answer his questions. What's worse, you really have to think through his questions in order to answer them. And answer them in such a way that Alex cannot ask any further questions from it... really tiring. Come to think of it, this is also part of an auditing process to really get into the core of something. If the person can answer all the "why's" then we know that person has really understood the question/process.]

3. Never underestimate your own potential
[How true this is. Initially, Melinda was the one that keeps on saying "Aiyo, so hard... don't know whether can do it or not..." but in the end, I believe she has explored into many new areas that even I myself haven't done so e.g. the very cool Mr VOKI, Camtasia, etc. Also, Hazel was also sharing about her hearing difficulties and lack of IT skills... but in the end, WOW... she really pulled her weight in the team and was one of our major contributers. Of course, I must not forget I Ling and Seok Binn as well - I Ling, came already equipped with the IT skills (I believe she has the most experience in IT skills) and Seok Binn - I was really impressed with how she managed to video tape her daughter playing the keyboard and downloading that into her blog. It was because of her, that I also decided to explore on how to do it and GUESS WHAT... I also managed to do a video tape, downloaded into the blog. What a great sense of achievement after going through it.]

That's it for now...

Okey dokey... that's it for now. Time's already nearly 11pm. Need to get up early for tomorrow's TREASURE-WALK-HUNT. Imagine, we'll be walking for 4 hours around town area, deciphiring cryptic clues in order to answer the questions asked.

Stay tune for new posts on my learning experience... will try to update as soon as I can, ok... be patient.... Bye and nite-nite.