E-Learning for College, Adult and Young Learners and for Preserving

Local Knowledge: The Miriam College Experience

Maria Lourdes Quisumbing-Baybay

What is e-learning?• “any form of learning that utilizes a computer or

technological network for delivery, interaction, or facilitation” (Carry and Willis, 2001) .

• “a special kind of technology-based learning” (Anderson cited by Gerhard & Mayr, 2002).

• "the delivery of content via all electronic media, including the Internet, intranets, extranets, satellite broadcast, audio/video tape, interactive TV and CD-ROM" (Urdan & Weggen cited by Gerhard & Mayr, 2002).

• the process of learning aided by information and communication technologies (ICTs).

is a non-profit, non-stock Catholic educational institution in the Philippines offers academic programs from pre-elementary to post graduate and adult education levelshas a school for the deaf

a premier women’s college in the Philippines with all female students in the grade school, high school and college levels with a few deaf male students in the college Adult education school and the school for the deaf are coeducational.From 1926 -1969, the American Maryknoll sisters ran the college. At present, a lay board of trustees administers the college.

The Higher Education Unit is composed of the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Business, Entrepreneurship and Accountancy, and College of International, Humanitarian and Development Studies.

ICT Infrastructure34 HP Blade and DL servers providing the school’s

Web services and Windows application systems. a fiber optic backbone link served by the HP

E5412zl Core SwitchAvaya S8300C server with G450 Media Gateway

and 200 VoIP and 60 Analog local lines. 2 x 8 MBps bandwidth internet service from

Bayantel, a national telecommunications company

15 WiFi areas

e-learning for Tertiary Students Computer assisted courses, using appropriate licensed software (e.g. SPSS/PASW, Minitab, AutoCAD, ArcGIS, Adobe Master Collection CS4) and freeware (Audacity) are regularly reviewed and revised by faculty to keep up with the changing technology and with industry requirements

Various e-learning practices range from simple to complex depending on the level of proficiency of faculty and appropriateness in the subject/course

Reputable websites and electronic references in reference list of the course syllabus

Email groups (yahoogroups or googlegroups) for distribution of notes, references, announcements and for discussion

popular Facebook closed groups interact on issues raised in class through comments by members of the class and sharing of videos, websites and photos.

class blogs to discuss issues and share in cyberspace club blogs or Facebook groups to elicit active

participationpersonal blogs for students to communicate their

assignments, and their thoughts, insights, and questions about the lessons

Trained faculty use e-learning modules to enrich face-to-face instruction through the blended mode

Moodle e-modules are housed in a separate MC serverEdu2.0 e-modules are housed in the cloud

Challenges and Plans

• Some faculty members continue to be resistant to e-learning

• Faculty need continuous training to maximize the features of platforms like Moodle and Edu2.0

• ICT infrastructure and systems need to be updated (e.g. videoconferencing system)

• There is a need to virtualize the whole campus• There is a need to review policy regarding access

to social networking sites

Open/Distance Learning Program (Professional Program) combines distance education with the equivalency of work experience for adults who seek to pursue a college diploma while working

e-learning for Working Adults

Moodle and Edu2.0 are currently being used. The program is in its infancy and despite the

numerous inquiries, enrolment has remained very low.

Students prefer the blended mode because they want some face to face interaction.

The program is under review and recommendations will be given after this Conference.

e-learning for Young LearnersMiriam College has a

partnership with HopeNet, a social cause network, with the goal of creating a global force of youth to restore hope and fuel a citizen’s movement for peace and prosperity.

Hope Cybrary (cyber-library)provides virtual world services to children ages 7-12 such as the Knowledge Portal, eTutoring, and

eMentoring in two sites which will be expanded to 32 public schools

in Makati City

Miriam College students are online volunteers as knowledge portal guides, editors, administrators and eTutors to provide supplemental assistance to those children unable to find answers to their questions within the knowledge portal.

e-learning for Local Knowledge

An innovative effort to inform and ground students in their local knowledge through e-learning is the Asian University Digital Resource Network (AUDRN).

Miriam College is the host of the AUDRN, an innovative program of the United Board for Christian Higher Education’s Local Knowledge Initiative.

AUDRN promotes new ways that local knowledge can be collected, preserved, and shared by university faculty, researchers, library staff, and students, using inexpensive digital tools and media in teaching and learning, research, and expanding library and reference materials collections.

AUDRN aims to share resources with Asian universities, particularly in preserving and sharing Asia’s local knowledge, through training, online interest groups and a website.

AUDRN organized and successfully run training events that featured documenting and sharing culture and local knowledge through Web 2.0 tools.

A set of more formal official AUDRN websites (http://audrn.net/ and http://audrn.org) shows highlights of sample documentation of local knowledge projects that are supported directly by UB and indirectly via AUDRN.

The community site at http://people.audrn.net is the platform for 230 AUDRN members to connect and share digital resources on local knowledge.

An associated Facebook Fan page at http://www.facebook.com/audrn and a Twitter page at http://twitter.com/#!/audrn operate as parallel information and communication touch points to promote AUDRN.

AUDRN supported higher education institutions to conduct research in order to develop and evolve reference models for documenting local knowledge using digital tools.

The researches focused on the enrichment of the teaching learning process through e-learning.

Two Miriam College researches showed the interface of local knowledge and digital tools.

A study on lullabies in the Hiligaynon dialect documented existing local lullabies and their practice in digital form, collected stories and information behind the local songs, and connected the lullabies’ knowledge content to various academic fields.

The other study used digital tools and cloud based data representation, storage and

preservation of Google Maps and Panoramio to to create a digital map of the endemic and indigenous trees and plants in the Miriam

College campus with a description of their local uses and historical significance.

Next Steps for e-learning:Eight one-day fora of researchers and

teachers on integrating local knowledge into the curriculum through teaching for understanding (TUF), service learning and values integration

The Mahara e-portfolio as the e-learning technology for faculty to document and share their work as well as their students’ work in local knowledge.

Conclusion

• Miriam College can definitely learn from the established academic institutions which are experts in e-learning.

• We hope that our innovative projects can find support with individuals and institutions interested in e-learning for young learners and for local knowledge.

Mabuhay!(Long Live!)