Coursework

Posted: September 9th, 2013

Coursework

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Coursework

Question 1

The use of wikis and blogs are now a major part of the online learning experience for a majority of students worldwide. However, the have advantages and disadvantages attributed to them. Some people consider them the same since they both use the internet as their main medium of operation. Advantages associated with the use of wikis and blogs in learning are numerous, but the most critical ones will be addresses in this paper. The greatest attribute of the use of the wikis in education is the ease in which students acquire the information that they work. Ordinary, students would spend several hours in libraries while looking for information that they may require. However, since the inception of the blogs and the wiki family, it has become significantly easier to obtain the required details. This is because the student just has to key in whatever they are searching for and in a matter of seconds, the results are obtained, and the students may access whichever s/he needs. In addition to this, it minimizes the amount of time spent in the libraries (Lending, 2010).

Therefore, the students have a lot more free time to concentrate on other matters like co curricular activities. The greatest disadvantage that is associated with the use of wikis and blogs in learning is the dependency that the students get to the websites in question. In most cases, the students who use these websites for research grow overly dependent on them. For this reason, it is uncommon that their performance weakens since they have lost the sense of educational independence they possessed earlier. Cases of plagiarism have also increased with the use of wikis and blogs in education (Parks et al, 2010). This is because the students can obtain the entire information hat they require from these sites. Consequently, the utilization of wikis and blogs has both positive and negative effects.

References

Lending, D. (2010). Using a wiki to collaborate on a study guide. Journal of Information Systems Education, 21(1), 5-13. Retrieved from ProQuest Education Journals.

Muwanga-Zake, J., Parkes, M., & Gregory, S. (2010). Blogging at university as a case study in instructional design: Challenges and suggestions towards professional development. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 6(1), 21-36. Retrieved from ProQuest

 Question 2

Learning portals refer to websites that provide information to students in higher institutions of learning. The information provided is from other institutions that offer similar programs. Learning portals are of different kings but all share similar features and components. The information they offer is openly available to whoever requires is, and they have no restrictions. The most crucial component of the learning portals is the Learning Management System (LMS). LMS is the operating system of the whole portal. This means that all the information is located in this system before it is disseminated to the other sites in the learning portal. Another component of the learning portals is the content they wish to avail to the students. The content is obtained by the formation of alliances with several institutions, which offer the same educational programs. This enables the portal to have a wide variety of information that makes it more effective. Some portals also offer internet based video learning. In this case, the classes are conducted using the internet. However, in most cases, they just offer the lectures that took place in the various learning institutions (Derringer, 2010).

Undoubtedly, the use of learning portals has enabled several students to benefit immensely from their services. However, some improvements can be made in order to ensure that the learning portals become even more effective. A vast majority of the learning portals are formed using the institution in the same vicinity. This makes the information they receive biased since it is only from the immediate environment of the learning portal. To avoid bias in such cases, the learning portals should form affiliations with other institution that are located in other areas, as well. The affiliation with foreign countries will further improve the learning portals. If this is implemented, the information the students will be exposed to will significantly increase as will their performance (Mitchell et al, 2012).

References

Derringer, P. (2010). The POWER of PORTALS. Tech & Learning, 30(11), 47-48. Retrieved, from ProQuest Education Journals.

Mitchell, E., Seiden, P., & Taraba, S. (2012). Past or portal? Enhancing undergraduate learning through special collections and archives. Chicago : Association of College and Research Libraries.