training for the virtual world: the reality of learning fort mccoy january 5, 2000 mary f....
TRANSCRIPT
Training for the Virtual World: The Reality of Learning
Fort McCoy
January 5, 2000
Mary F. O’Sullivan, Ph.D.
Reality is relative
• Alexander Graham Bell: invented the telephone for symphonies
• Department of Defense: devised internet for cold war information safety
• Tim Berners-Lee: created html for scientific document sharing
Thirty years that changed everything: 60s & 70s
• 1969 DoD’s Advanced Research Projects Agency -- 4 computers
• 1971 Ray Tomlinson invents email -- 2 dozen computers
• 1973 first international connections
• 1976 Wang Laboratories creates first word processor -- $30,000
Thirty years that changed everything: 80s
• 1980--400 university, government, and military host computers
• 1984--1000 host computers
• 1989--100,000 host computers
Thirty years that changed everything: 90s
• 1991 Tim Berners-Lee invents hypertext
• 1992 Internet links 17 networks, 33 countries, 1 millions hosts
• 1993 Mosaic, 1.5 million host computers linked in 100 countries
• 1994 3 million host computers
• 1995 Dial-up access with AOL etc. and 20-30 million computers
Speed of Development
• Over 20 years from the Internet to the WWW--4 computers to 100,000
• Two years from the invention of html to the first browser-- 15 times to 1.5 million computers
• Two years from the first browser to dial-up-- an increase of 20 times to 20-30 million computers
Next on the web:
e-Education
Why e-Education?• Gartner Group: Dataquest
– 1995 -1998: 27%-50% households had computers
• Kenneth Green 1999:– 54% of all college courses use email– 38.9% have syllabus online– 28.1% have a website
• PC Week article on DoD: http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2391276,00.html
Training for the Virtual World: spring 2000
• My background
• Course contents
My Background
• Humanities to techno-geek– 25 years teaching communication– 1987 1st computer– 1988 began teaching in computer-
supported classroom– 1989 went online– 3 years teaching online
• http://learn.western.tec.wi.us/mfo
Course Content Highlights
• Examples for inspiration
• Discussion Lists
• Asynchronous and Synchronous Conferencing
• Designing Learning Modules
• Designing Websites
Examples of Online Instruction
• Smart Planet: http://www.smartplanet.com/learn.asp
• Learnativity: http://www.learnativity.com/
• World Wide School http://www.worldwideschool.org/
Examples of Potentials
• VOICe: http://www.western.tec.wi.us/voice/
• Translate Mail http://www.t-mail.com/ translates email
• The Nine Planets http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/nineplanets/nineplanets.html
Discussion lists and Email• Enable student collaboration
http://www.western.tec.wi.us/mfo/elecwrit/mail180.htm
• Facilitate communication between student and instructor
• http://www.western.tec.wi.us/mfo/elecwrit/disc180.htm
• Simplify distribution of materials
• Provide transcript of all communication
Asynchronous and Synchronous Conferencing
• Creates a virtual classroom for discussion
• Asynchronous allows for thoughtful conversation
• Synchronous allows for immediate feedback
• http://www.western.tec.wi.us/webboard/webboard.dll/~commskills
Designing learning modules
• Planning before creating
• Designing to take advantage of hypertext
• http://www.western.tec.wi.us/mfo/elecwrit/ass180.htm
The Point
• eEducation is already happening and those who ignore it will not have input into shaping what may well be the most significant development in education this century.
• Use of computer-mediated communication is exploding.
What Next?
• TCP/IP
• 2003-- America's Mars orbiters will serve as relays for SCP
• Solarnet with .mars and .earth addresses
• Eventually past the solar system and...