What does that mean?

Here is a brief guide to some of the names and terms that might be associated with E-Learning at UWE and beyond...

Avatar

An avatar is a visual representation of a user. It can take the form of a 'character' in a specifically designed environment such as a virtual world (e.g. Second Life) or else be embedded in other media or websites.

Avatars can be 2D or 3D, and they can often speak and move around.

An example of an avatar that can be used in Blackboard is a Voki. A Voki is a specially created avatar that allows its creator to add audio to give the impression that it is 'speaking'. Users visit the Voki website where they can create the avatar (and where it will be stored). Once created users can link to the Voki from their own site or Blackboard course. A small advert will appear on a free Voki.

Blackboard

Blackboard is the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used by UWE. It provides a teaching platform via the web and can be access through the myUWE student/staff portal.

Students/staff will only have access to materials specific to your course (if your modules have chosen to make use of Blackboard).

Please see UWE's Blackboard Support pages for further information or the EDLU's Blackboard courses for further guidance on how to best make use of the system.

Blog

A blog is a website normally maintained by an individual (but occasionally more) with regular entries of commentary, descriptions, ideas, arguments, and possibly graphics, audio, and video. There are currently more than 112 million in existence.

Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order and allow for the other readers to interact and leave comments at the end of each posting.

Blogs range from dedication to a single subject to a wider range of interests to personal diary observations on anything and everything. Blogs often link to other pages and other blogs - creating a virtual 'Blogging Community'.

While most are text-based, some blogs take the form of audio (podcasting) or video (vodcasting).

E-Learning

E-Learning (or Electronic learning) is education using computer technology (mainly internet or media-based). This teaching/learning experience can supplement traditional teaching or replace it.

E-Learning can be designed for people who have difficulty learning in certain environments (e.g. face to face seminars) and it can be used to simulate real-life scenarios using computer simulations.

E-Learning can be used to offer greater flexibility when studying - whether allowing long-distance learners the opportunity of studying from home or allowing students the opportunity to study or complete assessments at times that are more suited to them.

UWE has its own Technology Enhanced Learning Development Unit that offers help and support to all members of UWE staff in designing, developing, and running courses that use online technologies or electronic media.

Formative Assessment

The essence of formative assessment is that undertaking the assessment constitutes a learning experience in its own right. Writing an essay or undertaking a class presentation, for example, can be valuable formative activities as a means of enhancing substantive knowledge as well as for developing research, communication, intellectual and organisational skills. Formative assessment is not often included in the formal grading of work, and indeed many believe that it should not be.

Formative assessment differs from summative assessment in a number of ways.

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital audio or digital video files that are made available for download by web syndication to internet users.

The term is a cross between the name of the popular mp3 player ( iPod) and the act of transmiting of content to an audience (broadcast). Vodcasting has grown in popularity as the term used to describe the use of video files, while Podcasting is traditionally used in relation to audio files.

The syndication aspect of the delivery is what differentiates podcasts from other ways of accessing files, such as simple download or streaming media.

Applications known as podcatchers (e.g. iTunes, Winamp) can automatically identify and retrieve new files in a given series when they are made available, by accessing a centrally-maintained web feed that lists all files currently associated with that particular series. New files can thus be downloaded automatically by the podcatcher and stored locally on the user's computer or other device (e.g. mp3 player).

UWE staff have free and open access to Wimba's Voice Podcaster. This allows you and your students to create vocal recordings or upload digital recordings and distribute them over the Internet using syndication feeds. Essentially, it allows you to easily create and subscribe to podcasts.

RSS feed

RSS (most commonly translated as 'Really Simple Syndication' but sometimes 'Rich Site Summary') are web formats used to publish frequently updated works (such as podcasts, vodcasts, blog entries, news headlines) in a standardized format.

An RSS document (which is called a feed, web feed, or channel) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship.

Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. Users can then subscribe to these feeds and download content automativally (e.g. subscribing to a podcast of a popular radio programme will result in your internet-connected computer automatically downloading that show every time it is podcasted).

Second Life

Second Life is an internet-based 3D virtual world which allows users to interact and communicate using an image-based interface.

Anyone using Second Life for the first time will need to register and then download a 'viewer' program onto their computer before creating an Avatar (a graphical embodiment of the user) which will be used to represent their presence in the virtual world.

There are some restrictions on registering for Second Life on the UWE campus. More details are available explaining how to setup Second Life on your computer.

Once set up as a 'Resident' of Second Life, users will be able to explore, meet other residents, socialise, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade items (virtual property) and services with one another.

It's free to join and 'exist' in Second Life, but residents can buy and trade in an internal currency called the Linden Dollar (L$) ot buy land, objects, clothes, and services.

A special programming language (Linden Scripting Language) can be used by users to create items and customise the way that an object, for example, might behave.

UWE has an E-Learning island in Second Life. If you have Second Life setup, you can go directly to the island by following this url http://slurl.com/secondlife/Elearning%20at%20UWE/110/128/35

Streaming Media

Streaming multimedia refers to the way that a piece of multimedia (e.g. video, audio) is delivered rather than the multimedia itself.

Streaming allows compressed media to be delivered to the user across the internet a 'moment at a time'. For example, a user watching the BBC iPlayer or You Tube will have the video delivered to their computer as they watch the video. This cuts down on download time (the user doesn't have to wait for the entire video file to download before they start watching) and has benefits for those supplying the video (delivery is not short and server-intense and can instead be controlled over the longer period of the video's playing time)

A media stream can be on demand or live. On demand streams are stored on a server for a long period of time, and are available to be transmitted at a user's request. Live streams are only available at one particular time, as in a video stream of a live sporting event.

Summative Assessment

In contrast, summative assessment is not traditionally regarded as having any intrinsic learning value. It is usually undertaken at the end of a period of learning in order to generate a grade that reflects the student's performance. The traditional unseen end of module examination is often presented as a typical form of summative assessment.

Summative assessment differs from formative assessment in a number of ways.

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

A virtual learning environment (VLE) is a software system designed to support teaching and learning in an educational setting. The primary VLE used by UWE is Blackboard.

A VLE will normally work over the Internet and provide a collection of tools such as those for assessment (particularly of types that can be marked automatically), communication, uploading of content, return of students' work, peer assessment, administration of student groups, collecting and organising student grades, questionnaires, tracking tools, etc.

While originally created for distance education, VLEs are now most often used to supplement the face-2-face classroom, commonly known as Blended Learning.

UWE staff and students can access Blackboard through the myUWE portal.

Vodcasting

Vodcasting refers to making movie and video clips available for users to watch online and/or download to their personal players. The guidance here will help you to set up your own domain on YouTube, and to use the university's video streaming server to enable you to broadcast small or large video and audio media.

YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips for free.

Once uploaded, a video clip is streamed on demand to the computer of someone watching it.

See our guide to Vodcasting for further information or examples of existing sites at UWE that are using YouTube, go to

Wiki

A wiki is a collection of webpages (powered by specialist software) designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify its content. This allows for greater collaboration and interaction among a wide set of users and the sharing and exchange of information.

Wikis can be focused on a particular subject or a wide range of topics (like the most famous wiki - Wikipedia). Like Blogs, wikis can contain audio, video and link to other websites and places of interest.

Related links

Page last updated 2 April 2012

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