Bob and Sue - Adult Learners returning to Higher Education

Carolyn Hunt
9:32pm 7 July 2010

I love the thought that my future is A.R.S.!

This tech really interests me as I can see the potential for it in informal as well as formal education. I intend to try it as soon as I can get away on this trip and try the Museum of London version.

As you mention one downside is the whole 'big brother' traceability and how the information is used once collected. This does concern me but  I had not thought about the whole area of whether we bother to think and retain information if we always have it available at our fingertips. From my experience with home educated children, I would not be too worried about this as they have shown me that they do retain information when the subject interests them and they are willing partners in the process. My son was telling me some detiaied stuff about nuclear reactors yesterday. I asked him where he had found that out and he reminded me of a trip to Anglesea Nuclear Reactor that we went on when he was 5 years old! That was 13 years ago so I think he was interested and it stuck!

Gráinne Conole
11:54am 30 July 2010

The knowledge sharing toolkit looks really interesting, plan to put aside some more time to look at it. I've given it a 'recommendation' so it now appears higher in the list.

yasemin
2:50pm 31 July 2010

Really useful in education and very innovative. Since youtube is blocked in some countries, I wonder if there is any other way to reach this content other than youtube? Keep up good work. Best.

Julie Carle
4:29pm 31 July 2010 (Edited 4:33pm 31 July 2010)

Thanks for your comment Lynn, I think your example of your son engaging in learning and making meaning from it last over time is very relevant to how technology can assist the learning process. My main concern with AR is that will it disadvantage some unfairly if they are do not have an A.R.S.

Julie Carle
4:31pm 31 July 2010

Thanks for the recommendation given to the kstoolkit Gráinne. This is a collaborative wiki and as such an ongoing project to collect ideas for knowledge sharing in development. I hope to be able to contribute to its development through my experiences with study and practice.

Julie Carle
4:32pm 31 July 2010 (Edited 4:34pm 31 July 2010)

That's a good point Yasemin. The videos can be viewed and remixed from the original Xtranormal website by clicking http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6720369/. It would be interesting to know whether tools like this are also blocked as well. The advantage of remixing movies, is that you get an idea of how they are constructed. You can then adapt them, save them as your own series and share with others.

yasemin
2:29pm 1 August 2010

Thank you for your quick reply Julie. All the best...

Carolyn Edwards
12:17pm 7 November 2010

Hi Julie,

Bob and Sue just rock!  I watched the OER one twice.  I love the playful/serious mix, and the puns are hilarious.  And quite apart from the OER issues, you've raised some interesting questions about memory and learning here as well, particularly how our understanding of a topic/a skill/whatever is in constant flux because what we do or don't remember is always changing. How to REfresh that understanding (and - groan - how to assess it?)  Well, remixing, reusing, (what was the third one again, ha ha?) and redistributing sounds logical to me, especially when I hear it on YouTube.  I feel some cydeas coming on!  Thanks for this.

I just want to say more generally as well, having recently met Julie in Barcelona, if anyone reading this gets the opportunity to meet any of their online peers face-to-face, and has any qualms about whether it might be awkward or weird - absolutely not, do it, you won't regret it and you definitely won't run out of things to say!   H800 was my first experience learning online, and like most people, I suspected that the personal and social element of face-to-face learning would be missing, and missed.   I've been surprised and delighted to find that that's not the case.  It's certainly different, but it's definitely there, and it's been not only rewarding, but, as Julie rightly put it, moving.  Bit off-topic, I know, and no offence to Bob and Sue, but had to be said!

(Em)power(ment) to the people!

Carolyn

Julie Carle
2:07pm 7 November 2010

Hi Carolyn, thx for your positive reinforcement. You have identified some valid points and I like the idea of REfresh in learning. Sometimes we just think achieving something means we have attained it. Continuing Professional Development is so important in technology learning as the change is omnipresent. The great thing about B&S is that they provoke and stimulate thought - but aim to be edutainment. 

Meeting virtual colleagues f2f is tremendously satisfying as you say. Learning from someone in a virtual environment is a delicious chocolate cake, and the f2f is the icing on top. Another e in the eeeee-learning video should be Emotional, as that's how I felt meeting virtual colleagues f2f for the first time; truly Enlightening and Empowering.

Julie

Julie Carle
6:45am 27 January 2011 (Edited 6:47am 27 January 2011)

Unfortunately Xtranormal has removed the voices for Bob and Sue making it impossible to create new movies with these particular characters. However, they helped me progress towards a Master of Arts in Online and Distance Education and understanding some of the many issues around technology enhanced learning. Most importantly, I had great fun whilst learning. I would like to acknowledge and thank my fellow H800 students who stimulated many of the ideas in the Bob and Sue series.

Manish Malik
7:13am 19 February 2011

Hi Julie,

Further to your comments on Steve's blog about PLEvsVLE here are my thoughts based on our work on Cloud based Open learning environments:

PLE is personal and people use cloud based tools happily for this. Unless there is a critical mass on a particular tool/site we do not get much out of it. For example if you and me were the only two people on twitter then it would not be as useful as having our wider PLNs too on it. 

Our work is not saying that the institutional environment takes over the 80:20 informal:formal split. It presents a way forward for those of us for whom the split may not be that important and want to link the formal with the informal and vice-versa. It doesnt matter which way you mix the two. Google and Microsoft are big companies that offer cloud based solutions. Many personal web tools are now allowing users to use popular services to logon to their services. For example u can login to various PWTs using facebook, twitter, google accounts. 

The PLE VLE video above highlights that for lifelong learning it is the person who wants to be in control and hence the PLE sitting in the cloud makes sense. While the institution is important only for a few years in ones life, it is significant as that is where you are likely to form your PLN and build on it. A Cloud based open VLE (or what we call CLE) will provide the best of both worlds. A CLE can be classed as being robust, it keeps up with the latest technology, allows students and staff all different levels of control, allows formation and maintenance of PLNs during and after university through your life. Providing  a safe environment yet allowing access to some 'free for all' services will help in a creating learning environment that is versatile and the critical mass from within your PLN.

Manish

MA- ODL :)

Julie Carle
5:30am 6 March 2011 (Edited 10:42am 7 March 2011)

Thanks Manish, I really like your concept of CLE Cloud Learning Envirnoment as explained in the slideshow www.Slideshare.net/mobile/timbuckteeth/cloud-learning-environment#1 prepared by yourself and Steve. Rgs Julie