first day of class...

Yesterday was the first day of Web-based Technologies in Teaching and Learning. Part of the assignments for this course will be to create and maintain this very blog. So here we go...

Web-based Technologies in Teaching and Learning.... This has been a topic of interest to me for a long time now, so I am definitely interested in reading and learning more about the research in this area. There seems to be a lot of opinions on what works and what doesn't in e-learning, but as far as I know, the research in this area is not that extensive. That is to say, there are still lots of unanswered questions.

One topic that was addressed during class was that of understanding the culture of a community before attempting to implement a technology solution. There are plenty of examples where solutions are designed for communities that perhaps are not at the stage where that particular technology is even a viable option for them. This is a struggle that I feel many product designers have. The example given during class was that of the "One Child per Laptop" project, where the concept of designing a "connected" laptop for every child failed to be successful particularly because there was not a clear understanding of the communities that would be using these laptops. It is a sad thought that such a worthy project failed, yet a lesson learned in that understanding the social context of any technology project is pivotal for success. Hopefully I'll remember this later as I work to develop technology solutions of my own.

Other topics that I hope will be discussed in later classes include social e-learning and mobile technologies. Social software seems to exist everywhere these days and seems to have great potential as a means for learning, but I can also see some challenges. I'd be interested in knowing what types of social communities help promote learning best and which ones do not. As far as mobile technologies, there really seems to be very little literature in this area, but I would be curious to know the feasibility of implementing solutions in regards to cost and accessibility.

I'm very excited about this class and hope that there will be lots of key take-away's that I can use in my own work. The digital artifact projects also seem very cool and the specific focus of the class is extremely up my alley (i.e. education need for the most vulnerable, underprivileged and marginalized). Hopefully it will be a jumping off point for further research and possible ideas for the LDT Masters project.