for success

ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES

An OverviewStarting an online course can be challenging for you sinceyou are used to receiving instruction in a face-to-facelearning environment. What I want to provide you with thismodule is giving you the chance to learn about the onlinetechnologies that you are going to use for the course indetail. You are going to be introduced with the onlineresources which will lead you to success.

“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.

Below, you can find the link to the article written by Alan Roperwho lists the seven tips which lead online learners to success.After reading the text, please move on to the resources whichgive information in detail about the various resources you will beusing:

Roper, A. How Students Develop Online Learning Skills(2007). Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/how-students-develop-online-learning-skills

ONLINE LEARNING RESOURCES

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 courseplatform.

• 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 unique Web 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.

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

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/40773-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.

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.

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.

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.

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 use Wiki spaces and how to post to them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df2rC2QfvFc

Professional Writing Tools

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:

APA Style®

http://www.apastyle.orgThe 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.

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

Purdue University OWL Online WritingLab

Purdue University. (2013). OWL Online Writing 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.

CREATING PODCASTS

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.

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

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 on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzA0RDae24

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

ReferencesDaley, 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 Online Writing 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.