2. An Overview
Starting an online course can be challenging for you since
you are used to receiving instruction in a face-to-face
learning environment. What I want to provide you with this
module is giving you the chance to learn about the online
technologies that you are going to use for the course in
detail. You are going to be introduced with the online
resources which will lead you to success.
3. “Online education demands that students become engaged in the
learning process” (Simonson, Smaldino,Albright & Zvacek,
2012) In order to be successful at online learning, you need to
acquire more knowledge on the technological resources that you
will be using. Before you start learning about the online
resources, you should read and learn about the ways online
learners develop their skills.
4. Below, you can find the link to the article written by Alan Roper
who lists the seven tips which lead online learners to success.
After reading the text, please move on to the resources which
give information in detail about the various resources you will be
using:
Roper,A. How Students Develop Online Learning Skills(2007).
Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/how-
students-develop-online-learning-skills
6. Learning About Canvas Instructure
• Instructure is an educational software company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It is the developer of the Canvas learning management system, which is a
comprehensive software package that competes with such systems as
Desire2Learn, the Blackboard Learning System, Moodle, and the Sakai Project.
Instructure also developed Canvas Network, a Massive open online course
platform.
• If you want to have further information about what Canvas Instructure is, you
can read the blog written by Joshua Kim. Kim publishes the interview that he
has conducted with Devin Knighton, Instructure's director of public relations.
Here is the link : http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-
learning/open-online-education-and-canvas-network
Canvas Instructure is one of the best online learning platforms available. It
offers some uniqueWeb 2.0 features. However, Canvas Instructure's best
attribute is its ability to convey information intuitively. Canvas Instructure
makes it easy for students and instructors to navigate the well-designed site.
7. Learning About Canvas Instructure
http://distancelearn.about.com/od/onlinecourses/gr/Canvas-Instructure-Review.htm
Pros Cons
-Intuitive, easy-to-use format
-Clean, simple design
-Makes grading and viewing
grades easy
-Social media integration
-Can be a bit buggy
-Difficult to find instructional
material on how to use the
platform
-No simple way to add one
sentence reading assignments to
calendar
8. Introduction to Canvas
• You should visit Canvas Help Page whenever you
need to learn about the use of Canvas.The video
tutorials broadcast by Instructure’s Co-founders
and Canvas Course Management System is ready to
inform you:
• Daley, D.What is the Course Homepage? (Video)
Canvas Help Centre . Retrieved from
http://guides.instructure.com/s/2204/m/4210/l/4
0773-what-is-the-course-home-page-video
• In this video tutorial, you will see what the home
page is and how you can use it. It gives you all the
helpful guides to start using Canvas.
9.
10. USING WIKI SPACES
A wiki is a website which allows people to add, modify, or
delete the content via a web browser usually using a
simplified language or a rich-text editor.
11. Wikispaces allows you to create a wiki that you and your
readers can add to, edit and change in any way they want
about the topic you choose.Wikispaces also offers special
features for your wiki.
12. You can learn to start running your wiki.You can learn how to
add images and files to your wiki, embed widgets like videos and
calendars, set permissions for your wiki, and invite people to
join.
13. This tutorial is owned by Sarah.You can watch, take notes and
ask any questions or post any comments if you need to :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL9p-_QsXU4
This video tutorial will show you how to useWiki
spaces and how to post to them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df2rC2QfvFc
15. Professional Writing Tools
Your words reach people's hearts and minds.Your writing is
more powerful than the sword. It inspires and educates.
Therefore, you should be careful with the rules of writing
and always edit what you write.You should also be careful
about plagiarism. For your Professional writing needs, you
can go to the web-pages below:
16. APA Style®
http://www.apastyle.org
The best scientific writing is spare and straightforward. It
spotlights the ideas being presented, not the manner of
presentation. Manuscript structure, word choice,
punctuation, graphics, and references are all chosen to move
the idea forward with a minimum of distraction and a
maximum of precision.
17. To achieve this clarity of communication, publishers have
developed rules of style.These rules are designed to ensure
clear and consistent presentation of written material.
Editorial style concerns uniform use of such elements as
punctuation and abbreviations
construction of tables
selection of headings
citation of references, and
presentation of statistics
18. Purdue University OWL Online Writing
Lab
Purdue University. (2013). OWL OnlineWriting Lab.
Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
This is an exemplary page which will help you refer to
whenever you need information about using appropriate
citations.
20. What is Podcasting?
Podcasting is delivering audio content to iPods and other
portable media players on demand, so that it can be listened
to at the user's convenience.
21. What are the advantages?
The main benefit of podcasting is that listeners can sync
content to their media player and take it with them to listen
whenever they want to. Because podcasts are typically saved
in MP3 format, they can also be listened to on nearly any
computer
22. Which software to use?
We will use Audacity.
It is free .You can download it from:
www.sourceforge.com
Watch the video tutorial about Podcasting onYoutube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzA0RDae24
23. For more information about how a podcast works, watch this brief video on the
Common Craft Show: Podcasting in Plain English.
Podcast video tutorials. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
hrBbczS9I0
24. References
Daley, D.What is the Course Homepage? (Video) Canvas Help Centre . Retrieved from
http://guides.instructure.com/s/2204/m/4210/l/40773-what-is-the-course-home-
page-video
Kim,J. (2012) Open Online Education and Canvas Network. Retrieved from
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/open-online-education-and-
canvas-network
Podcast video tutorials. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hrBbczS9I0
Purdue University. (2013). OWL OnlineWriting Lab. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Roper,A. How Students Develop Online Learning Skills(2007). Retrieved from
http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/how-students-develop-online-learning-skills
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S.,Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance:
Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
"Web hosting introduction."http://www.w3schools.com/hosting/host_intro.asp. 04 Oct. 2012.
w3schools.com. Retrieved from http://www.w3schools.com/hosting/host_intro.asp.