INTRODUCTION
The E-learning and the current technology regarded to virtual environment has created the need to count with new specialists besides the acquisition of new competences for the different teachers and instructors that use these tools. Of course the profile of the users (students) that have access to the education supported by informatics and telemetric technologies.
Before explaining some characteristics of the teachers that use de E-learning platform, it is convenient to explain some general concepts about it:
What is E-learning?
E-learning (electronic learning) is the development of teaching –learning programs using the Internet and other virtual supports.
Even when the distance-education is a frequent model used long time ago, it is important to emphasize some pedagogic differences between both of them:
a) Distance education implies a relationship between the teacher and the student, both are geographically distant from each other and entirely desynchronized.
b) Meanwhile the E-learning model foresees the use of communication tools such as the email and the chat (supported by forums and lectures) that changes the desynchronized concept of education complementing it with assisted education that allows the follow up, the tutoring and the evaluation of the student.
c) One of the E-learning characteristics is that the relationship between the teacher and the student is balanced by the materials and by the technical resources that allowed him a variety of didactic tools that most of the time, compensate the lack of personal interaction, which happens in the attended education.
Adventages of using the E-learning
a) Flexibility on the learning pace and time per each user.
b) It facilitates the team and multidisciplinary work (with the communication tools).
c) The variety of multimedia tools that allows to adapt the teaching to the different learning characteristics (this in a real sense approaches the personalization of the method).
d) It allows to get close to communities that might not have access to an education of excellence due that it is not always possible to transfer the teacher.
e) So much for the Institution that uses the platform as well as for the society in general, it represents an option to reduce costs and to use democratically and efficiently the resources assigned for education.
1) PLANNING OF THE COURSE
a) Planning the objective of the course.
b) The creation of an academic program that develops the objective of the course.
c) To design the students profile (just in case you need to establish pre-requisites )
d) To design the students profile by the time they finish the course.
e) To segment the program in: Name of the course: Descriptive and in agreement with the objectives and the addressee of the course, for example:
“Finances for non financial people”.
Topics: It groups different concepts that are part of a Unit. For example:
First topic: “The financial information base and usefulness as administrative tool”.
Subtopics : It is here where you do the development of the topics. For example:
Subtopic 1.1 Accounting background.
Subtopic 1.2 The principles and the financial standards.
Subtopic 1.3 The basic financial statements.
Subtopic 1.4 Other sources of financial information and the state of the art in accounting.
f) Design of the materials and didactic resources for the course, per each subtopic.
g) Design and calendar of teaching activities per topic and subtopic.
h) Design of procedures and tools for self assessment and assessment ( if the course is part of a program that requires to be certify ) per topic and for the course.
2) TEACHING DESIGN
this is created by the teacher according to the nature and to the characteristics of the course, the structure of the plan and his own experience, however we can show an outline as an example
The work that the teacher does is supported by a team of instructional designers which is form by:
3) DIDACTIC TOOLS
The tools that INNOVA 5 has for the creation and the development of the courses are:
a) Text
b) Graphics
c) Animation
d) Audio
e) Video
f) Exercises and simulations
Their use and combination will depend on the nature of the topics to be taught, of course that this could be used in a simultaneous way.
We have also to take into consideration that the people in the long distance course and that sometimes is not synchronize, they don’t always count with the ideal needed resources such as the optimum communication equipment ( they could lack in speed, the wide of the track for Internet, etc) so you have to set up limits only if necessary, the use of materials that demands more use of certain resources ( as with video and audio) to avoid lack of interest and concentration from the students due to the slowness in the access to the materials.
However, the combination of the tools opens many possibilities to the teacher to increase the quality in the explanation of concepts, making them more attractive and accessible for the students to facilitate their assimilation.
It also gives teaching options by applying multiple tools for the learning process (visual, audio, kinaesthetic), a variety of formats to teach the same topic and the most important is that the student can learn to his own pace respecting his availability of time and generating the option to review the concepts as many times as he wishes, and without the limitations of having a teacher available for him (self-study).
4) COMMUNICATION AND FOLLOW UP TOOLS
These will allow the teacher to be in communication either in a non synchronize form or in real time, they are used according to the teaching design that was set up ahead of time, and to the students’ needs they are done using a previous planned schedule and the could build either a bi-directional or a multi-directional communication among all the members of the course. (as in the forums) .
a) Chat
b) Email (tutoring)
c) Forums (discussion)
d) Lectures ( that could be on line or by having access to files)
e) Links
5) EVALUATION AND CONTROL TOOLS
a) Events
b) Research
c) Exams: the Innova 5 system foresees four kinds of exams , that could be checked automatically (previous design) they are; multiple choice, true or false, matching columns, fill in the blanks exams, but it also has the option of open questions, but in this case, the revision and grading of them must be completely done by the teacher.
Note: due that the Innova 5 system is customizable, different designs of evaluations could be made by asking previously to the department of developing systems in Innova 5 according to the characteristics of the contract signed.
a) Evaluation criteria: established and approved by the teacher.
b) Grades registered on line: either as part of a specific course that requires of a certification, or as part of an academic programme that must be graded in a sequenced and complete way. |