Semester Teaching Break
A break is convenient for students though I question its credence with regards to online learners.
I have just completed part 1 of both modules that I currently teach as an adjunct lecturer in an online institution. It is quite useful to have a platform that has gone through the test of time, modified and adapted. Blackboard, and in occasion Breeze.
Online teaching keeps one in touch with the mechanisms and modus operandi of the traditional classroom teacher, without the physical affluence of brick and mortar classes, with the highly added substance of multiracial student populace. The norm of instructing, facilitating, formative assessing and marking still demand the exact approach as those of a room teacher.
Having an online teacher licentiate is the grail of all, which I will gradually work myself into through this experience, but what is paramount is the capacity to balance between one’s day job and one’s teaching job.
To Speak Or Not To Speak
Out of the blue. I have a gig abroad around this time. Contemplating on one of either.
We are pleased to inform you that your abstract submission has been accepted for presentation at the 17th International Conference in Education (ICE2012), which will be held at Universiti Brunei Darussalam from 21 to 24, May 2012.
I have attached the official letter with this email. You will receive the original letter by mail.
Congratulate again on the acceptance of your abstract submission.
EDUNPA, TeachBrunei and Edeolo?y
Introducing the 3 elements of a collective initiative, created by teachers for teachers.
EDUNPA
Educators’ Network for Pedagogy as an Artform
Purpose : KMS
Theme : The art of education and education delivery
Platform : Website
TeachBrunei
Purpose : Virtual Environment
Theme : By teachers, for teachers
Platform : Social network, forum, with customized plug-ins in the forms of FB Apps, G+ and mApps.
edeolo?y
Purpose : Information dissemination via micro.
Theme : ACMC and CMC
Platform : Primarily Yammer, secondary Jaiku and Twitter
Top 10 School Websites (SO.net)
www.shaiomarali.net, in line with the need to disseminate 21st Century Education, has embarked on identifying the top Bruneian school websites. From the 47 websites scrutinized, I am able to compile a Top 10 list. The criteria for inclusion in this list included design aspects, conforming to IWA standards, update frequency, browser cross compatibility, content organisation, novelty and objectives. The criteria list is however not exhaustive as evaluation was done holistically. In addition, tertiary institutions and purely international schools are not included in the evaluation process. The Top 10 School Websites are as follows :-
ShaiOmarali Top 10 Local School Websites
01. Kg. Mata Mata Primary School 9
02. Katok Sixth Form Centre 8
03. Seri Mulia Sarjana School 8
04. Tungku Primary School 7
05. Kiarong Primary School 7
06. St. George’s School 6
07. Pengkalan Batu Primary School 6
08. Rimba 2 Primary School 5
09. Semaun Secondary School 5
10. PDNPJ Sengkarai Primary School 4
Links to these schools can be found in the sidebar.
MIT Bridging the Distance, Finally!
Breaking Virtual Ground
February 13, 2012 – 3:00am
By
Steve Kolowich
Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today that registration has opened for its first online course through MITx, its new online spin-off devoted to offering “interactive” online versions of MIT courses to people not enrolled at the prestigious university.
The first course is an adapted version of Circuits and Electronics, an introductory course in which students learn the basic architecture of computers and gadgets.
Participants will watch five- to 10-minute video tutorials, read an e-textbook, and complete homework assignments, virtual laboratories and two exams. At the end of the course, they will receive a cumulative grade and a certificate from MITx.
“We’re trying to model it, as much as possible conceptually at least, with how we do it at MIT,” said Anant Agarwal, the MIT electrical engineering and computer science professor who will be teaching the course, in a phone call with media last week.
Registration will cost nothing, and there is no limit to enrollment. The “modest” fees that the university has said it will charge for MITx will most likely be tied to the credential, according to a spokesman. He said pricing has not been determined yet.
The assignments and exams will be graded by computer programs. MITx does not plan to include any protection against cheating beyond an honor code and the natural obstacles inherent in the complexity of the assignments and exam questions. The completion certificate will note this explicitly, Agarwal says. In the future, MITx may pursue more sophisticated checks on dishonesty, he added.
One homegrown e-learning innovation MITx hopes to bring to bear in its inaugural course is a virtual circuits laboratory that will allows participants to play with chips and resistors and orient themselves to the building blocks of microprocessors — all via a browser window. Instead of handling a breadboard and connecting components with their hands, the MITx registrants will do so by clicking, dragging and dropping in “the gaming equivalent of a physical lab,” Agarwal said.
The simulation software will run on MIT servers; participants will not need especially powerful computers in order to use it, Agarwal said. Also, MITx will be making the source code for its software infrastructure available to other institutions for free.
What will the certificate from MITx be worth in the job market? That remains to be seen. But those who earn a certificate can be expected to come away with at least a working familiarity with the underlying physics of circuits and electronics, said Rafael Reif, the university provost, and that may well be a boon to their job prospects.
For the latest technology news and opinion from Inside Higher Ed, follow @IHEtech on Twitter.
webmaster note : Exciting times ahead!
Attending a Seminar by Dale Carnegie Training
I will be attending “Sales Success” this February. Speakers to this seminar are New York Times best selling author Jeffrey Gitomer, and Kevin Sensenig, Ph.D., RODP.
Law with the Flaw
I received my letter of confirmation from University of London and am now officially a Student of Law under Queen Mary, University of London. I will be working towards a Masters in Laws LLM but due to my PhD study in Manchester that I’ve deferred to 2013, I will articulate the LLM first with a PGCert in Law. Then the PhD. Then the LLM.
For the PGCert I will be specialising on Computer and Communications Law. Graduation for the PGCert will be this October, upon which I will take a 3 year sabbatical to complete my PhD, and then continue with my LLM route specialising in Public Law for the Diploma phase and then Criminology and Criminal Justice in the final LLM phase. However, since my PhD research is on distance education, I may perhaps use the end-user experience of enrolling in a distance programme to justify findings.
Renowned for excellence in legal education, the University of London is one of the largest and most respected institutions in the world. We’ve been offering the opportunity for students around the world to obtain the Master of Laws (LLM) of the University of London since 1925.
The Postgraduate Laws programme has been developed by academics within Queen Mary and UCL Law departments, both of which have outstanding reputations (both 5-star faculties). You’re assessed to the same standard as students studying at the College.
If so happens I am able to complete the first phase by the expected exam date October, I will continue with either the Diploma phase or enrol for the Cert Management offered by University of Wales.
Attending a Seminar by Wainhouse Research
I will be attending “The Whys and Hows of Integrating Web Collaboration into Business Processes and Applications” this February. Speakers to this seminar are :-
Speaker Alan Greenberg
Alan D. Greenberg, Senior Analyst & Partner at Wainhouse Research, is practice manager for the company’s Distance Education and eLearning advisory service. He also covers mobile conferencing and communications technologies for education and eLearning. Author of the three-volume report, The Distance Education and e-Learning Landscape, he has almost 25 years’ experience as consultant, analyst, communicator, and strategist.
Speaker Andy Nilssen
Andy Nilssen, Senior Analyst & Partner at Wainhouse Research, has been a primary contributor to the Wainhouse Research portfolio of services, management consulting, training, and competitive analysis, since January 2000. Andy’s primary focus is on audio/VoIP conferencing infrastructure, web conferencing, and IM/Presence technologies, user trends, and solution providers.
