Hello, It’s me again!

Ok, so i have been trying to find sites which have an R.S.S feed, and while i have found many, I have been unable to post them onto my netvibes account as it sends me a message saying the url doesn’t work. It is very frustrating. I now know that my knowledge of R.S.S. is extremely limited. Sure, i can add R.S.S. feeders sometimes, but when i am provided with a long page of numbers and letters, i am left scratching my head as i ponder as to which of these links will provide me with a successful attempt at gaining an R.S.S. feeder. So far, out of about 10 sites, i have only managed to put one website onto my netvibes account. So sad!

Well, that is all for now. I will continue to find websites and attempt to add them to my netvibes account! Until next time, it is goodbye from me!

Just thought I would like to add that I googled not only my real name, but every nickname I might have used, and I am happy to announce that this edu blog does not show up. Now that is privacy! That is all for now. Bye!

During the last few lessons, we have set up many online accounts which are designed to help us with our e-learning experiences. These have included netvibes (RSS feeder site), delicious account (social bookmarking website) and of course our edublog site (this one). It is getting all very confusing trying to remember which password and username goes to which site, and what content goes where, but i am sure i will get my head around them all. Thankfully, i have used the same email for all the various sites, and so if i am ever confused, i can just go and look there!

I must say, i am quite pleased with the net vibes website the most, as through the RSS application, i can access and view many sites at once. In the past, i have spent a substantial amount of time going to various websites to look at various things. And now with the introduction of netvibes, I can view them all at once. However, in saying that, for some of the RSS feeds, in order to look at certain things, i still have to be redirected to the original site. But i guess i cant complain too much. The news reels from the various sites are the most positive aspects of the site. I can just glance over them without being distracted by the other things on the websites. The concept of RSS still confuses me a bit, especially when i am trying to access the RSS codes off various sites, and it gives me this whole page (sometimes pages!) of mumble jumble numbers and letters.

The second account we created was the delicious account. I have so many of these accounts that i can keep track of them. Well actually, i think this would be my third but still. Although i think the concept behind the site is ok, i usually just store my favourite websites on my computer. Haha… a random thought just popped into my head which justifies the need to have a delicious account…what if i am away from my usual computer and cant access the favourites? Ah ha! Classic light bulb moment. Ok, fine, the delicious account is great. I can store, and share, a record of websites which i believe have some meaning. It also means i can keep a track of the websites i have enjoyed in the past, but cannot remember.

As the site is relatively public (when i type my name, or nickname, in google, my delicious pages appears) it means i have access to other people’s lists and i can search through them and see if they know of any good sites. This however creates issues of privacy, well to a certain degree. Do i really want people to know of the sites i visit? To tell you the truth, i dont mind. Its not like the sites i view are that interesting/provocative anyway. I have valuable things to share with the world, especially in terms of e-learning (they need to be credible though-cant trust the fakes!)

Anyway, enough for now. I am going to google my name and see if this edu blog comes up. I don’t really want randoms to be reading my thoughts. I quite like blogging. But i really should analyse what i write as, as we learnt in e-portfolio last year, be careful what you write on your blogs, as once they are posted online, anyone can access them, even potential employers and this can greatly influence future decisions. 

Monday 13th August 2007

Another e-learning class, another chance to increase our knowledge about the field that is ever increasing in popularity: e-learning. It seems as though nowadays, everything is heading online, even parenting advice. Gone are the days when you would phsyically attend classes on how to be a better parent. I mean, as our lives become busier and busier, we find ourselves asking, who has time to attend such classes? Why would you bother when you can do it online?

Well, that was a random babbling session. I just like typing, but even though i was born in the technological period of the 20th-21st century, i can proudly say that i still do enjoy writing, using my hands! Anyway, in class today, we visited, among many other things, an interactive website that gave parents, and anyone else who was interested, advice on raising children of all ages. It gave advice on nutrition and exercise, moods that children go through and various other things. It was quite an interesting site, but a bit too simple for my liking, and i found the advice given to be a little bit useless- very common sensish. But i guess if you are a first-time parent, or some one lacking advanced English skills, you would find this to be helpful. Victoria, the lecturer/tutor explained to us that this was a humanistic approach to learning. We all agreed.

As I have said before, i personally did not find this to be a meaningful learning experience. Although the theory behind the website was good, and the site was pretty easy to navigate, the information was not relevant to my situation ( i have no kids of my own and do not work with children) and was too simple for my liking. I did however, find it easy to navigate and the layout/design and colour scheme was appealing to the eye, and that was a positive. I think websites like these, on a wide range of topics and issues, would be helpful to the wider society.

Monday 6th August 2007

In class today, we did an online e-learning activity in which we had to dissect a frog online. I found it to be an interesting experience, especially since i hadn’t done anything of that nature before- we weren’t special enough to do it in high school; they only gave us paper diagrams. I think it would have been much more helpful if there was information on the side telling me exactly what I was doing in regard to the cutting and the different parts of the frog. One element that might have heightened the satisafaction of the task would have been the presence of sound. Unfortunately, i was on a computer with no speakers. I guess this is one problem with e-learning. Technology doesn’t always work. 

I also think that if the images could have been maginfied to a larger size than was provided, it would have been more helpful in using the activity. I could barely see the images and this was a major disappointment. However, in saying that, i believe overall the activity was a good learning experience. As it was online, it meant that even if you made a mistake, such as a wrong cut, it could be undone or redone without wasting an animal, and it can also be repeated numerously. This is an advantage as as they say, practice makes perfect.

As the computer was doing most of the work, I saw this as both an advantage and a disadvantage. It was advantageous as it took on the role of a teacher, guiding my actions but this could also be seen as a disadvatage as it was sometimes hard to control the mouse and cut properly, and since the computer did the majority of the work, I felt i was only learning to a half of my potential to learn. I think that if someone was to try and learn this skill, especially in areas such as medicine, you would need to accompany this program with actual physical activities to ensure its success! Overall, i enjoyed the task, and can see many benefits in using such a program.

 P.S. The website was www.froguts.com and then go to demo!

This blog was created for the subject e-learning experiences. We have created and viewed so many sites this lesson, and i am scared that i cannot remember them. Thank fully i saved all the websites on both my delicious website and my electronic website. This site is to be used to post all assignments and various other blogs. Very strange- the computer just saved my blog automatically! I hope no-one other than the people who need to see this site view it.

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