Week 11: Webcasting

This week, we learned about the use of webcasting tools in an educational environment.

What did you learn/notice in your exploration of webcasting tools? How will these tools be useful in your educational activities?
Webcasting is the use podcasts, screencasts, online videos to learn online. Massive open online courses (MOOC) take advantage of these tools to facilitate online classes that can accommodate many students efficiently and conveniently, and can support and inspire lifelong networking and collaboration-based learning (Cormier, 2012). "A MOOC throws open the doors of a course and invites anyone to enter, resulting in a new learning dynamic, one that offers remarkable collaborative and conversational opportunities for students to gather and discuss the course content. (Educause, 2011, p. 2)" This semester, I have taken part in two MOOCs, and I have concluded that MOOCs are absolutely an effective format for learning. In addition to the networking and convenience aspect discussed earlier, I have found that these courses allow me to take control of my own learning. Traditional lecture-based courses provide a comprehensive variety of information, but those courses seem to be a one-size-fits-all system of learning, often overloading students with so much information that they find irrelevant that they lose their initial interest in the course. MOOCs take into account students' individual differences in learning goals and interests, and allows the students to effectively relate course content to their lives and careers, without sacrificing the core concepts that students are expected to learn. Students are also given the opportunity to learn from others' experiences in relation to course content much more conveniently than in traditional courses. One downside, however, is the lack of direct human contact in these courses - you don't really get a chance to have face-to-face conversations with other students.

Korolov, M. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2010/05/on24-adds-social-tools-to-virtual-events/. 

Aside for MOOC purposes, webcasting tools are also useful in other learning settings. Podcasts seem to be a hybrid of blogs and radios, allowing users to access others' recorded work immediately and listening to it on any device. The ease with which we can access this information definitely makes it a useful learning tool, but as discussed in the CNN Video "What is Podcasting?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5lXOFD4Zg), podcasts are like blogs, which mean that the content is often more opinion than fact. Through traditional radios, there are checks and balances which ensure that information that is put on air is at least half credible, but podcasts allow anybody to share their ideas, which mean that listeners need to be careful about what they take in from podcasts. However, in an educational setting, professors can take advantage of the podcasting system to upload their lectures online instead of requiring students to come in and sit through the 3 hours. Students have the freedom to listen to these lectures whenever they want, and are free to start and stop the lecture, allowing them to spread out their learning over several days. Furthermore, students have no excuse to miss a week's lecture material! I know that many professors from major universities have already been uploading their lectures on iTunes, but it seems as if this hasn't become a major trend in Ontario universities yet. Hopefully, more professors at Brock University will take advantage of this system in the near future. The same can be said of screencasts, which are essentially podcasts with recorded screen output (Good, 2007). My one experience with taking part in a screencast meeting/online lecture has allowed me to realize that these are not much different than face-to-face lectures, with the difference being that I was able to listen to the speaker who was physically in a completely different country. 

How do creative tools, such as Muziboo, SoundCloud, RecordMP3, Garageband, Jing, and Screenr contribute to your work in building knowledge? 

Webcasting Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nationwideav.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/webcastwebinar.jpg. 

These online voice or screen recording tools allow us to add a human visual or verbal component to online communication. It assists our knowledge building by allowing us to infer meaning behind the words spoken and understand others views on the topics they are discussing. In educational settings, listening to others sharing their ideas may be a quicker and easier way to absorb information. As fellow classmate Emily states in her blog post, "by using audio and visual components in digital learning we can also get information across a little bit faster than using other collaborative/ communicative tools such as blogging. (Roy, 2014, http://eeroy.blogspot.ca/2014/03/week-11.html?showComment=1396045189415#c2847193600109503023). Even beyond the academic setting, these tools allows us to get listen to others share their opinions and knowledge. In fields such as music or dramatic arts, understanding other viewers' thoughts and insights on certain pieces of art through their podcasts, often recorded by these tools, can provide inspiration and "aha" moments that text otherwise couldn't.

How are these creative knowledge expression tools different from other collaborative/communication tools or the collective knowledge building tools you have explored?
With the exception of Voicethread, most of the other collaborative tools discussed and used earlier in this class, such as Blogger, are based on typed texts. While typed texts are the easiest way to clearly present specific facts and ideas, much of the true meaning behind what you are trying to communicate is hidden. Furthermore, misinterpretation can often happen when reading others' typed works. With this week's creative knowledge expression tools, we are engaging verbal and visual cues, which allows listeners and viewers to better understand and retain the message or ideas we are trying to communicate. Similar to other tools, though, these tools are mostly hosted online and can function regardless of the type or age of the computer you are using. You can also access these files anywhere in the world where there is an Internet connection!

How could you add this to your PLE? Will you? 
I will absolutely be adding Soundcloud, Record MP3, and Screenr to the collaboration and socializing section of my PLE!

What are you learning about becoming a digital citizen? What have you learned about protecting your own artistic works in a digital society? 
This week, I learned that it is, in fact, incredibly easy to place a CC label on my work, ensuring that others will use it responsibly. All I had to do was input some information on the Creative Commons page, and then embed it in the header of my blog. There is truthfully no reason why anybody shouldn't be protecting their information from being used inappropriately whenever they present their work online. Furthermore, it became clear to me that the same digital responsibility rules apply to visual and verbal works online. We must be careful of how we communicate when we are speaking on our podcasts or videos, and also provide proper citations to videos or podcasts.

Are you able to connect one or more items from your Feedly Reader to your learning?
This week, I read an article on my Feedly Reader discussing the possible downsides to online education. "A study released late last year by the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education," reports Bernstein (2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/25/us-usa-california-napolitano-idUSBREA2O02R20140325), "showed that only about 4 percent of those who register for an online course at Penn complete it, even though the courses are free." While online courses may not help disadvantaged students prepare for college or earn their degrees at a lower cost as much as they initially thought, they may still be useful for students who are already engaged in the subject matter that they are studying in their already-established academic career. The main issue I see here is engagement and involvement - many students see online courses as easy and not taking as much time as traditional classes. This may be the reason why many are surprised with the amount of work that it takes, which may explain why so few people complete it. Online courses, such as this one, as I have learned, take just as much time and dedication as traditional courses. If the student isn't passionate about what they are learning in that course, convenience still can't prompt students to dedicate themselves to learning.

Sources: 
CNN Video: What is Podcasting? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5lXOFD4Zg. 
Cormier, D. (2012). What is a MOOC? http://youtu.be/eW3gMGqcZQc. 
Educause. (2011). 7 things you should know about 
Good, R. (2007) What is a Screencast? If you cannot view the video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5e5oO1zAPw&list=PL28F3C621E2AFF39F.
MOOCs. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7078.pdf.