The "Pass notes" article
“eLearning” is one of the new buzz-words in education but the term is commonly misunderstood. It is often assumed to be synonymous with distance learning and although it can be used as a medium for distance learning, it can also be used with great effect in a traditional face-to-face education setting.
So, what is it? eLearning is the use of any electronic communication tool for the purpose of improving the teaching/learning experience. At its very simplest, this could be the use of email as a means of communication between student and tutor. So, eLearning isn’t a new idea, it’s more a recent focus on delivering academic benefits and providing new opportunities.
Of course, the current range of electronic communication tools goes way beyond email. Technologies such as video conferencing, podcasting and many web-based utilities are now being used as teaching/learning tools.
One of the most useful web tools is the blog. Blogging or “web logging” has caught the imagination of many and there are numerous notable blogs on the web.
During this academic year 2005-06, 38 students from the Landscape Architecture and Garden Design pathways at the University of Greenwich have been keeping a blog as a record of their design work through their final year of degree studies.
The aim of the blog is to improve the self-reflective aspect of students’ design work, to encourage peer review within the student group and to aid tutors in keeping in touch with student project work. In addition, the blog gives students a venue where all their ideas, sketches, photos and thoughts can be recorded. The hope is that this will create a coherent narrative of their design process. It also gives them the opportunity to show friends and family what they are doing during their studies.
So far, the experiment has been a great success, see the results at: http://edesignstudio.blogspot.com
So, what is it? eLearning is the use of any electronic communication tool for the purpose of improving the teaching/learning experience. At its very simplest, this could be the use of email as a means of communication between student and tutor. So, eLearning isn’t a new idea, it’s more a recent focus on delivering academic benefits and providing new opportunities.
Of course, the current range of electronic communication tools goes way beyond email. Technologies such as video conferencing, podcasting and many web-based utilities are now being used as teaching/learning tools.
One of the most useful web tools is the blog. Blogging or “web logging” has caught the imagination of many and there are numerous notable blogs on the web.
During this academic year 2005-06, 38 students from the Landscape Architecture and Garden Design pathways at the University of Greenwich have been keeping a blog as a record of their design work through their final year of degree studies.
The aim of the blog is to improve the self-reflective aspect of students’ design work, to encourage peer review within the student group and to aid tutors in keeping in touch with student project work. In addition, the blog gives students a venue where all their ideas, sketches, photos and thoughts can be recorded. The hope is that this will create a coherent narrative of their design process. It also gives them the opportunity to show friends and family what they are doing during their studies.
So far, the experiment has been a great success, see the results at: http://edesignstudio.blogspot.com
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