Web Technologies

1. Web Technologies Overview

2. Texting • Advantages • More immediate access to information. • Supports communication of important and immediate messages. • Speed and ease of access during idle time (e.g. traveling, waiting before an appointment or meeting). • Supports interaction anyplace/anytime. • Asynchronous nature allows learners to independently reflect. • Facilitates recall of information, since texts can be archived. • Disadvantages • Communication is one way, with an unknown amount of time going by before receiving a response. • Maximum of 160 characters per message – may truncate message. • Not everyone subscribes to text messaging services.

3. Texting

4. E-mail • Advantages • Most adults in the U.S. and in global businesses have access. • Intuitive and not intimidating to infrequent users. • Accessible from any location that has an internet connection . • Can provide learners with links to new content, activities, work assignments. • Learners can ask questions, share information. • Learners can link to or subscribe to information resources . • Disadvantages • Delays in sending and receiving can interfere with the flow of a conversation. • Usually archived in personal folders making it difficult for others to access. • Limited interactivity can negatively affect learner engagement. • Normally brief, which limits depth of content. • Learners may ignore critical attachments and links. • Competition – messages and learnings may be lost in the daily flood of e-mail.

5. E-mail Examples of e-mail software Examples of e-mail services

6. Instant Messaging (IM) • Advantages • Flexible - learners can have single or multiple conversations when needed. • Interactive, real time nature enhances learner engagement. • Easy accessibility – can see and have immediate access to whoever is online. • Can complement face-to-face or telephone communication with links to audio, video and websites. • Disadvantages • Requires a lot of bandwidth and is seen as less secure than e-mail. • Some corporate networks block IM traffic. • Overuse or abuse of IM by members of the contact list may cause other. members to withdraw from the community or show as unavailable or invisible. • IM interrupt other tasks. • May promote multitasking, with less focus on each conversation or task.

7. Instant Messaging (IM)

8. Wikis • Advantages • Support critical thinking as users contribute to content creation. • Easily modified, making the content the most up to date. • Can provide follow-up to a learning event with additional support and resources. • Simplicity - open editing feature encourages collaboration, engages users to participate in content creation. • Disadvantages • Risk of inappropriate content or content that is wrong. • Time and effort required by someone to monitor and verify entries. • Group input requires instructors/facilitators define how users access information, navigate the site, add links to additional information. • Reflect the perspective of a particular group and may become biased and fail to see important or emerging issues. • Some users feel apprehensive about editing someone else’s work.

9. Wikis Example of a Wiki Example of a Wiki tool Click on images

10. Blogs • Advantages • Create a supportive environment by keeping learners informed about recent events and keeping a history of all entries. • Enable communication of important and immediate information to communities of practice or an entire organization. • Generate engagement and participation as users contribute to the knowledge creation. • Tend to focus on specific knowledge domains which attract communities of people interested in the same topic. • Immediate nature helps generate new ideas, which extends learning. • Disadvantages • Reliability and accuracy of information can vary. • Blogs can have competing and sometimes contradicting information. • Learners who do not feel comfortable sharing ideas and opinions in public will shy away from contributing to the knowledge creation.

11. Blogs Examples of blogs Example of a blog publishing tool Click on images

12. Message Boards • Advantages • Flexibility - Learners can share comments at their convenience, as well as analyze and respond to others’ comments. • Extends learning beyond the classroom as participants refer to, share, and post comments and ask questions after attending an event. • Promotes knowledge creation as users read others’ comments and contribute by adding their own ideas. • Can be a resource for gaining insights from colleagues at other organizations. • All members have an equal opportunity to share comments. • Disadvantages • May deter contribution/collaboration from those that do not like to share their ideas in public. • May not appeal to independent learners who prefer to work on their own.

13. Message Boards Click on image

14. Social Networks • Advantages • Can engage participants by posting comments before and after a learning event. • Can extend learning beyond the classroom as participants refer to, share, and post best practices. • Encourages community when instructors and participants share profiles. • Using tags for posted material allows users to quickly locate relevant text, graphics, video and other items. • Instructors can get ideas for training based on interests and values expressed by the target audience. • Disadvantages • Those who monitor must deal with issues of brand and message control, privacy and information overload. • Users determine their own privacy settings, which is a problem in terms of protecting students’ privacy. • Participants are free to do as they please and may use features of the website that do not serve the needs of the learning goal.

15. Social Networks

16. Podcasts • Advantages • Accessible anytime and anywhere. They are portable and flexible. • Any audio or video can be saved in a format that can be streamed to a PC or downloaded onto a portable player. • Can reinforce previous learning when participants access the podcast to recall specific information. • Can describe a procedure as the learner is executing the steps. • Can familiarize learners with topics prior to a class meeting. • Disadvantages • Cannot address doubts/questions about the material/content. • Not a good fit for complex topics which require interaction with the instructor. • Learners cannot add notes or hyperlinks.

17. Webcasts • Advantages • Can reach thousands of participants at the same time. • Can be used to recall or review content from previous training sessions once it has been archived. • Learners that miss a session can access it at a later time. • Less complex than full virtual classrooms. • Disadvantages • Quality and speed can vary depending on the server hosting the webcast and the learners’ bandwidth connection. • Not interactive; if used, Q&A’s are via Chat.

18. Teleconferencing • Advantages • Supports asynchronous learning by giving learners the opportunity to ask questions after completing a module. • Communication is immediate and also more personal than e-mail or texting. • Availability is high, access generally easy and technical complexity low. This reduces preparation time and multi-tasking requirements for the instructor. • Disadvantages • Not very flexible. A specific time slot has to be agreed by all participants. • Instructors cannot observe non-verbal cues from the learners to determine when the learners are confused. • Participants often multitask and have unfocused attention.

19. Web conferencing • Advantages • Can provide a series of short training sessions instead of a long training session (chunking of content). • Ability to have interaction (whiteboard, chats) enhances learner engagement. • Provides opportunities to repeat, practice, refresh new skills through polling and Q&A’s. • Disadvantages • Synchronous sessions involving virtual groups eliminate learner control over timing and pacing. • The instructor/facilitator is not able to observe the non-verbal cues and is not able to adjust the session to deal with participants drifting off or being confused. • Technology issues such as echoes, pixilation, and delays in video or audio stream can distract the participant. • May not work for activities that require real-time demonstrations of rapid movements, since screen capture rates limit the extent to which viewers can follow the presenter’s movements.

20. Games • Advantages • Learner centered; can be adapted to each individual player. • Can develop or improve decision making and problem solving skills. • Provides fun and enjoyment which can make learners feel relaxed and motivated to learn. • Clear objectives increase focus and motivation. • Players must master skills they don’t have and integrate their own skills with those of the virtual characters and other players. • There is interaction among players as they share ideas, best practices, etc. • Disadvantages • Technical issues such as a slow bandwidth connection, outdated video cards and microphones/headphone may cause learners to lose interest and feel frustrated. • Playing complex games is time consuming and may interfere with other tasks • High development costs and long production cycles. • Challenging to choose the correct games to fit the learning strategy. • Challenging for instructors, who may need special training to design, develop and implement. • Challenging for learners who have not played video games or online games before.

21. Games Examples of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) Click on images

22. Virtual Worlds • Advantages • Learner centered and controlled, which enhances engagement. • Ideal for learning activities that require role-play. • Anonymous nature of the avatars may increase participation of those learners that are fearful of speaking up in traditional face-to-face classes. • Learners can practice and sharpen new skills before using them on the job. • Disadvantages • Technical issues such as a slow bandwidth connection, outdated video cards. and microphones/headphones may cause learners to lose interest and feel frustrated. • Learners’ participation times may not coincide, which limits some contacts. • Learners who do not have experience with virtual worlds will require additional training. • Becoming immersed in a virtual world community is time consuming.

23. Virtual Worlds Click on image

24. Discussion Share your experiences