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SOME CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE 3 ARTICLES
by Kerstin Zimmermann - Monday, 24 March 2003, 03:32 PM
 

For me all articles are rather old 1998 (!)

1st

In Europe Macintosh is not a dominant software,
and the technical description are some kind outdated.
CD-ROM vs. Web is not a question of data and
application, but of costs. You have to pay if you are being online for hours!

I miss metadata for the description of the courses. How long is one unit, what is the relation between text and graphics, is there crosslinking or only seqencial chapters, etc.


2nd

Nice historical overview about online courses.
But I miss the differentiation between 'online course' vs. 'distance education'.
Talking about * collective construction of the course the interface aspect of the learning environment should also be integrated.


3rd

Motivation is a matter of didactics, not of technology. If you have scanned sheeds like in Figure 5 you only transform 'old concepts' into new media. This should not be the point of view! Use modern concepts and metadata.
The same is relevant in interdisciplinarity.


Further Readings:
Proceedings VIEWDET 2002
Vienna International Working Conference - eLearning and eCulture

      Re: Some critical remarks on the 3 articles
      by Petri Karhumaa - Monday, 24 March 2003, 07:05 PM
       

      Online hours are not that much a cost factor any more. At least not in Finland/Sweden where most people pay a fixed monthly price = you can be online 24/7 without any extra costs. Also, most schools/libraries have lot of computers for free usage.

      Internet connections should be taken into consideration anyways, depending on where in the world you are developing. For instance if you are developing a math education program in Finland/Sweden, internet connections are not amongs the most important developing factors. You can count on that user have access to the Net.

      New self-help health program for developing countries - the most important factor could be how to get an access to the system and then it could even be a idea to send one computer from town to town with e-learning programs installed on this single computer.

      Re: Some critical remarks on the 3 articles
      by Håkan Jeppsson - Thursday, 27 March 2003, 07:28 PM
       

      Unlimited access time might soon be history.

      In Sweden TeliaSonera and others had done some calculations and found out that there business models doesn’t work anymore because they don’t expand anymore.

      They start to think what to do?

      Blame on the people who do a lot of downloading (MP3) and let them pay per MB.

      What do you think will happen in the future?

      They will raise the fees per MB for everyone!

      Now they are in business again.

      So what will the user do then?

      Håkan

      Re: Some critical remarks on the 3 articles
      by Björn Finer - Thursday, 27 March 2003, 10:23 PM
       

      According to an article in Computer Sweden, TeliaSonera will be the only ISP to introduce this "service" for broadband (ADSL) costumers.


      I doubt it will be a success. Perhaps for people who needs/wants the availability, but not for people who already are broadband customers. We're already used to the access, but how much are we willing to pay? I think I will unplug totally at home if the cost reaches 500 SEK (aprox. 50 EUR)/month.


      If TeliaSonera would offer a cheaper and slower connection for people uninterested in downloading stuff (illegal or legal), that would be one thing. However, they want to scrap the old system all over (I don't think you have to be working for the Psychic Hotline to realise that...) and I hope they won't succeed.

      Re: Some critical remarks on the 3 articles
      by Håkan Jeppsson - Thursday, 27 March 2003, 11:28 PM
       

      I agree that 50€ would be a limit.

      If you add your family’s total communication cost:
      * Ordinary phone
      * Mobile phone per person
      * Television license
      * Extra television channels
      * Internet access
      * Equipment as computers with software, firewall, video, CD, DVD, radio, TV etc
      * Electricity to give power to it.

      Your real cost is way above 200€/month depending on number of persons in the family.

      On top of this you might have costs for courses, travel, newspapers, magazines and books.

      There is a need for rationalization.

      Maybe the real life is better than on the Discovery channel.

      Håkan