Learning and Academic Analytics

                                        
                                         LEARNING AND ACADEMIC ANALYTICS


When I first heard the expressions learning and academic analytics I thought they were the same and we could use either one or the other. But now, as I understand, learning analytics is more specific and narrower than academic analytics. Learning Analytics  as defined in the first international Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (Long & Siemens, 2011) is analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts for purposes of understanding learning. Academic Analytics analyses data at an institutional and international level (Goldstein & Kats, 2005).  
Before trying to express my impressions about Analytics I would life to refer to my positive impressions about Online education. Though I did this in my previous post the video by Daphne Foller made me do it again and again.First of all, it gives opportunity to move away from the constraints of the physical classroom and second, as Foller presented in the video, gain  the best content taken from the best courses of the best institutions.WOW:))) it really does wonders. 

However, the video not only aimed to show how best quality education is brought to so many people online but also how it becomes a way to acquire a huge amount of learners to provide the administrators managing the "business" of institutions with  sufficient data to research how people learn (Goldstein & Kats, 2005). This will help to analyse and find out what are the best learning strategies and what steps could be taken to improve the quality of education.
As mentioned in Goldstein & Kats' article (2005), with the growth of users trying to access information analytics is required to be expanded  to cope with the arena of higher education which is becoming a "burning platform. 
Observing the excel file provided by our instructor I saw how every click of the students in one writing course was collected together. So many data and that was only a very little fraction of what could be observed? This thought made me open my eyes wider and wider and think harder and harder to find ways to assist Data analysis. 

Picture retrieved from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david_jones/5342991372/sizes/m/in/photostream/     

Distance Education/Online Learning

                                     DISTANCE LEARNING AND ONLINE EDUCATION

I have always sought ways to pick up information about distance education and programs that would give me an opportunity to study abroad. With online learning as a tool we can handle the problems more easily first because the interaction between the instructor and the learner  becomes more available, faster and meaningful than it was  in the times when learners had to go to the post office, send the letter to the instructor,and wait for months to get his response. Peer interaction becomes more feasible as it can be done through skype, messaging and other ways. Students, as for me, don't need to have advanced proficiency level of  technological skills to be able to take an online course.
As we know from Hill's article(2012), there are different types of online courses meeting some particular needs Ad Hoc Courses, Fully online courses, Hybrate courses. And through this same article I found out that the logical extension of this approach is called "flipped class". Before this I could never imagine that I was studying in the flipped class at AUA which uses class time for practice and actual application moving the content delivery to be available to students via technology.
Now let me introduce my viewpoint from the teacher's perspective:  Let me remind my peers and instructor that I had intended to write a paper where I would be an online trainer and train intermidiate level learners. . Before getting to know the challenges I though it was really a great idea. With so many PLEs and VLEs at hand, Open Educational Resources at hand I would become a great trainer. I even chose the open resource to find a useful course where I could be enrolled as a teacher and my students can take courses without having to pay any money for them http://odijoo.com/. And what happened? Why did I switch on a new topic? First it was because I was short of time. On the one had I had to develop materials and do a course proposal. On the other hand I needed to be a professional in the field of technology to be able to cope with the problems. As  from the maxims introduced in White, Murphy, Shelley & Baumann's article (2003) the image of a distance education teacher should be like this: a teacher with high IT skills. In addition to this a teacher  is a trainer,who is honest, supportive and approachable to the students.Other important issues are self-management and pedagogical expertise, professional skills and responsibilities.

Photo retrieved from: https://www.google.am/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=distance+education+photos&oq=distance+education+photos&gs_l=hp.3..0i30l2j0i22l2.4802.15222.0.16304.25.20.0.5.5.1.1329.9126.3-7j1j2j3j2.15.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.BnZQQs6dkYE&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=e7979636f5974184&bpcl=39314241&biw=1280&bih=709

PLE and VLE

PLE and VLE

After the first quarter at AUA from time to time I visit my previous courses on Moodle both to review some materials  and also to reassure myself that I still have an access there. Also, I have always wondered whether or not it would be possible to go there after the graduation and also I was curious about the amount of price AUA has invested on it. Truly speaking I had decided to ask my instructor one day but I didn’t dare to. Fortunately the technology  class on Open Source Softwares and Open Educational Resources  made everything clear for me. So I found out that “Moodle is an Open Source Course Management Software designed to support and enable instructors to create online courses. It is available for free on the Web and  that anyone can download and install it”.

Retrieved from

http://www.oerafrica.org/moodle/UsingMoodle/tabid/1195/Default.aspx

Moodle is really a great educational support as it can be used to teach online or hybrid classes. The answer of my second question whether it would be possible to go there after the graduation came with the class on VLE/LMSs and PLE. Listening to the explanation given by  Stephen Downs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDwcCJncyiw&feature=relmfu

I found out that Moodle is a VLE/LMS and that if you have no account this means you can’t have any access. And as compared to PLE to which  you can trust your data  and where you have a direct access VLE becomes less trustworthy for Stephen Downs.

 However, VLEs or LMSs as for me could surely be  valuable in the Armenian educational environment.Instructors could use it for multiple purposes. They simply have to download and install it for free, spend some time on exploring it like our class did in  Sandbox for TE 307" and you will give your students an opportunity to  have online discussions or use wikis and blog tools,they will be provided with quizzes, self-tests. These and many other advantages of the VLE are worth taking it for granted being sure that it will meet our teaching purposes.

Pictures taken from:

https://www.google.am/search?hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&tok=DLtQwxvhb0KYOfpP7M7QrQ&cp=16&gs_id=2l&xhr=t&q=moodle+as+an+OER&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38625945&biw=792&bih=487&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=_c6pUJj5JsvZsgblkIDADA#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=PLE+and+VLE&oq=PLE+and+VLE&gs_l=img.3...0.0.4.6684.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1c.MKQ_utKgXz4&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=e260a8099dfee804&bpcl=38625945&biw=1280&bih=709

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

I was not familiar with the term OER before but when I first heard it I imagined it to be first of all something open to public, something free of charge,   and truly speaking, something of a lower quality and not so much valuable. Maybe this is because it’s typical of most Armenians to think like I do (Թանկից էժանը չկա) it’s a saying which means the more you pay the cheaper the product becomes for you at the end. I was partially correct. The wrong thing was to doubt about the quality. During our technology class our instructor showed us an open Source animated video and it became clear that it was with  high quality graphics, visuals. Evidently great sums of money was invested on the program  so that now we could not only download and  use it but also edit. Yes, editing is one of the greatest advantages that OER has which “allows for the continuous evaluation, improvement and growth of courses and course materials”  http://oli.cmu.edu/get-to-know-oli/learn-more-about-oli/
I observed many educational resources, found many useful courses. For example I would surely participate in the course named “Communicating Across Cultures”  which was designed “to help you become more sensitive to intercultural communication differences, and to provide you with the knowledge and skills that will help you interact successfully with people from cultures other than your own.” 
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/21f-019-communicating-across-cultures-spring-2005/
On the other hand, I have always dreamed of creating my own online training course to support learners who  have a great wish but lack opportunities  to attend face to face courses. I intend to realize my wish through the Capstone project. Before being acquainted with OER  I wasn’t sure that I could realize it because I thought it would either cost me much money or I would fail. But now with OER in my  hands I can surely say as a teacher that I will  do it successfully. And one of the resources that I think could be useful to me is http://odijoo.com/ through which instructors  can create, publish and share online courses.
The work in the field of Open Educational Resources in Armenia is at an initial stage (Danielyan & Alexandryan, 2010) and one of the main reasons for it is  the low level of information culture development.
During our class discussions our instructor strongly recommended to become really good educators  in future and  try to guide those teachers in Armenia who are more or less uninformed and encourage them to use  all these resources for the benefit of our schools. I agree that the suggestion would improve the situation and having resources at their hands our teachers would become more creative, although  I strongly doubt that some Armenian teachers of older generation would agree to learn anything from the younger ones.  Also, I have noticed that they are not so motivated to become creative and traditional classes based on  grammar-translation  is what they prefer. However, this doesn't mean that I have completely lost my hope. In my turn I'm  eager to invest all my efforts and  knowledge for the benefit of our nation and future generations.
Pictures retrieved from:
https://www.google.am/searchq=Photos+of+open+Educational+resources&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eJ6cUIS8J-aQ4gSwuoDYAQ&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=665 

MALL

                                                                    MALL

As David Crystal mentioned during one of his lectures in Armenia “Internet Linguistics” worldwide web is only 20 years old. As far as I remember mobile phones are even younger but they have developed so rapidly, they have been involved in our lives so smoothly that even young children now would hardly do without it, not to mention those who are busy solving problems lying. It was 1990 ies when mobile phones appeared in Armenia for the first time. I was nearly 14 years old and was so much surprised to see that extraordinary phenomenon as I would be now if I were to see walking mobile phones, who are instructed by their owner to go to a certain place.

You may wonder (as I did) what MALL could be when you see it for the first time. I’ll tell you at once that it’s Mobile Assisted Language Learning.Yes, not only have mobiles established themselves in this flat world as a means of communication but they have also become a very useful  technological tool to be used in Foreign Language Classes. I would personally replace my laptop with a mobile at least not to carry that heavy device with  me to my classes at AUA. However my mobile is still unable to function in a way I would need him to as it doesn’t have certain apps. Also  internet access via mobiles is quite expensive in Armenia so synchronous use of mobiles at Language classes is not so realistic yet. But students could use their cameras, record players or emails to do certain assignments. Also they could download podcasts to their mobiles and listen to them extensively simultaneously travelling by bus, walking in the street or doing the washing up.I liked all the projects suggested by my peers via mobiles: shooting a film on environmental issues, interviewing and recording people, taking some pictures to write on them later in class.

Even with certain disabilities mobile phones in Armenia could still be used  as an effective technological tool giving learners to be as creative as they become with other tools such as blogs, digital video cameras, power point, second life and so on.

picture taken from:

http://www.gettyimages.com/creative/mobile-phone-stock-photos