Reflections for Session 3: eLearning Trends in Higher Education - WEEK 5-6.

Hi Dear ED403 Bloggers

This is my Blog for Session 3: eLearning Trends in Higher Education - WEEK 5-6.

(Please have read and feel free to comment. Thanks.)

In session 3 we learnt about and engaged in discussions on new trends emerging in Higher Education such as Learning Analytics, Bring Your Own device (BYOD), VR, AR, Makerspaces and e-Assessments.

So, to begin with, I would like to share my personal experience with you all regarding BYOD. During staff meetings in past few years I have seen some lecturers complain about students being on their mobile during lectures and how it has disturbed their class and they were wondering if students were listening actively or not? I would also think similar sometimes because I wasn’t sure if students were doing something constructive or playing games and/or using social media. In fact, some of us do not allow students to use their mobile phones during lecture. However, I’m ok with students making use of their smart phones during tutorials and small group discussions because they can use OERs and certain medical related apps. So, I would say that m-Learning can be very useful in Higher education.

Before this session, I did not know much about Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. From here, I learnt that VR and AR are perhaps the way of the future with many possible benefits. It could break down the distance barriers; imagine your students in other parts of the Pacific sitting there in front of you as holograms or projections of themselves and in real time. It may also prove to be cost-effective and economical.

Moving on to e-Assessments, I would say that I have very little experience with e-assessments because my course is taught in face-to-face mode only. However, during this session, through research and readings, I have learnt that Moodle can be well utilized for e-Assessments. I can use e-Assessment for formative assessment so that the students can be given some feedback on how they are preforming and what improvements they ought to make. I can make use of Moodle quiz for assessment methods such as Multiple-Choice questions, short answer questions etc.  I think this is a good way of allowing students to learn at their own pace and be at peace. When learners sit for short test, they often feel stressed but allowing this e-assessment to be taken at their homes or their comfort zone does give the student that extra push of thinking critical before answering. However, I am still not sure whether e-Assessments will be appropriate for summative assessments in my course.

This video Link is an example of an e-assessment via iPad with the Examplify app at University of Leicester Medical School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msvafm12kkA

Finally, I would like to say that there’s a lot learnt from this session and I am sure I can integrate most of what I have learnt into my course.

Thank you for reading 😊

Cheers