TOPIC 1

relevance easy to use technology audio visuals communication

Dear participants, The official start of the e-Conference will take place at 13:00 (GMT +0.00). During that time, the first questions that will elaborate on each topic will be published. To be able to participate in the initial discussions, we kindly ask you to use the time left, to familiarize yourselves with some of the resources and reading material that are provided in the first page of the Forum (folder: RESOURCES). With kind regards, Nikos Palavitsinis

[quote="zvavanyanger3"] relevance easy to use technology audio visuals communication [/quote] Dear colleague, So if I am getting this correctly, you mean: - Relevance to the topic it addresses - To be easy to use, providing clear steps and an educational process - To provide audio & visual aids Is this correct? Please let me know if I misunderstood something. Also, what do you actually mean by communication? Can you elaborate a little bit on that?

Dear e-Conference participants, Initiating the discussion on Topic 1, we would like to provide you with a set of questions that focus on various aspects of the proposed topic. As you will see, some of the questions are more generic, whereas others focus on specific stakeholder groups (i.e. content/course creators, users of the content, etc.). The idea here is to start elaborating on these topics, clarifying and delving into the characteristics of a quality learning resource. To facilitate the discussion, we would like to ask you to start replying by indicating the question number addressed (i.e. Q1), so that our colleagues that read you answers can easily identify the question you refer to. 1. What is a learning resource for you? Which is the definition that describes your perception of learning resources? 2. Do you have a pre-defined process of creating learning resources? Do you apply any specific criteria that must be followed? 3. Do you have ways of assessing the quality of the learning resources you are using or have created yourselves? 4. Do you find it easy to retrieve content online that will help you create new learning resources? 5. Do you share your resources online? Do you attach any Intellectual Property Rights to them? With kind regards, Nikos Palavitsinis - Moderator - Topic 1

[quote="nikospalavitsinis"] To facilitate the discussion, we would like to ask you to start replying by indicating the question number addressed (i.e. Q1), so that our colleagues that read you answers can easily identify the question you refer to. 1. What is a learning resource for you? Which is the definition that describes your perception of learning resources? [/quote] Dear all, thank you for setting up this interesting topic. Even though I haven't been involved in the educational process for a long time, I will provide a quick reply to Q1 and the rest will follow. Q1. For me educational resource in any material that can be used for educational purposes. It can be of digital or analog format, a simple image or a multimedia presentation with video, audio and text, a set of slides comprising a presentation on a specific topic etc. It may be an electronic article found in a blog or a hard copy of a scientific article. I believe that it's not the mean of the resource that matters, but how one is going to facilitate this resource and implement it in his educational process.

Dear colleagues, Below some quick reflections about the questions posed. Q1. Learning resources are of a very different kind, from simple diagrams to complete course materials. However, when we are thinking on sharing learning resources, the important issue is reusability, i.e. resources prepared for reuse in different context. This is the notion of "learning object": http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/155/236 Q2: Yes, in different context. For the resources I prepare for students, I first do a decomposition phase, then work them independently and then "glue" them together with some form of narrative. This helps in producing more reusable resources. Q3: A priori you can use questionnaires as LORI (Learning Object Review Instrument), but the best is using them and getting feedback. Q4: Not at all. Most resources are still poorly prepared for reuse. There is still a long way to Q5: Yes, when I feel they are good enough or useful :-) I use CC licenses. With kind regards, Miguel-Angel Sicilia

Some more answers to the questions set by NikosPalavitsinis: Q2. I have developed a more-or-less standard process for creating learning material, even though I mostly use already existing material. This process mostly covers a quality control of the produced resources, in order to avoid mistakes in both content and format. Steps: 1. Make a draft of the text with bullets, notes, sketches etc. This helps me clear things and follow a specific pathway. 2. Find the appropriate multmedia resources (such as photos, videos etc) that will support and enrich my learning material. 3. Combine draft text with multimedia and build a strong frame. 4. Fill this frame with full text and create the learning resource. Q3. I already mention the quality control process of the resources I produce myself. When using educational resources created by others, I try to cross-check the provided information by using supplementary material from different sources or compare specific points with some reference sources. Q4. I have already created a list of available online repositories and portals that provide copyright-free content on my research areas. This list includes Organic.Edunet web portal, TrAgLor, Bio@gro portal, FAO's document repositories, OrgEprints etc. I prefer these sources over the simple Google search because in this way I can get more accurate and in-topic results. So the answer to this question is YES, I find it easy to retrieve educational resources online. Q5. I share my resources online and I use Creative Commons licences, corresponding to each specific case.

[quote="vprot"] Q4. I have already created a list of available online repositories and portals that provide copyright-free content on my research areas. This list includes Organic.Edunet web portal, TrAgLor, Bio@gro portal, FAO's document repositories, OrgEprints etc. I prefer these sources over the simple Google search because in this way I can get more accurate and in-topic results. So the answer to this question is YES, I find it easy to retrieve educational resources online. [/quote] I don't find particularly easy to find quality materials over the Web. Google is fine but resources retrieved thorugh it lack important information I need, such as educational level and the like... I don't want to examine long lists of resources as a pre-step to using them! So, I'd rather go to specialized repositories, where I can find good metadata and not only content. But apart from Organic.Edunet (which is nice but I feel the contents could be of a higher quality) I find it difficult to find what I look for. Best regards, Salvador

Q1& Q3: I agree that an educational resource could be any material used for educational purposes, but doesn't this complicate the process through which we define and control the quality of resources? Regarding the quality issue, which is a very complex one, I believe that quality should mainly be defined based on the efficiency of the materials, and less on some pre-defined standards. That is because when we talk about education the focus should be on learning and on the outcomes of the learning process. The same resource might be appreciated differently by different learners; the same learning outcome might be reached by following very different learning paths. Therefore, it is very difficult, and I am not sure if really necessary either, to try to build detailed quality assurance tools for the educational resources. I believe that it might be easier and probably more helpful to concentrate on building/using efficient assessment tools to assess our students' performances rather than the resources used. On the other hand, this approach might be riskier, as we can't get much information about the usefulness of the resources we use until after having used them on our students. In this case, belonging to a community of teachers that exchange information and experiences is essential.

1. I am covered by Vassilios Protonotarios definition. Also, as Miguel-Angel argued, the important issue is reusability. 2. I do have a pre-defined process of creating learning resources. a. I make a draft of what the final resource should be b. I search for appropriate content c. I evaluate the retrieved content d. I create the educational resource e. I evaluate the produced outcome 3. A have a simple evaluation process, assessing the learning resource using criteria from the LORI questionnaire. Due to the differences in the context each time I select only the related criteria. 4. It is still very difficult to find free related content online that could be used to create a new learning resources? Most of the high-quality content it is still under commercial licences and even they can't always be used (at least by me) too easily to create a new learning resource. 5. I share my resources online and I use Creative Commons licences.