eBook

Have you ever used eBook before? I think everybody in our class should use at least one or two times unconsciously. “An eBook is an electronic book, one you read digitally on your computer, laptop screen or on devices called ebook readers.”[1] It becomes more and more popular in our society. Therefore, it’s our responsibility to know more about eBook.

eBook has many formats, such as Adobe, HTML, Microsoft LIT, Hiebook-KML. Adobe is the most popular format that people are using. We can download Adobe free from http://www.adobe.com . After download the program, we can search any books that we want to read from internet.

There are some advantages of using eBook. First, using eBook is very convenience. eBook can be purchased on CD or diskette. However, the most popular way to get eBook is from internet. To download most of the eBook only takes five minutes or less. Second, using eBook is friendly for the environment. People can store several book contents on a CD or a diskette. However, it is necessary to cut the tree in order to make paper books and people should have a big space to store all the paper books. Not only that, eBook is easy to read. People who use the eBook can adjust the text size and font face from their computers. If the readers do not like to read from the screen, they can also print out and read it on paper.

Even though there are many advantages of using eBook, there are still some disadvantages. For example, eBook format required special program; therefore, people should download the program before reading eBook. However, it’s not a big problem because we can download the program easily from the internet.


Resource:
What is an eBook? : http://www.atlanticbridge.net/publishing/otherresources/whatis.htm



Let go and try eBook!!!!Here’s the video about how to download eBook. Hopefully, you can get some tips from it.

Learning Objects

I did some researches and have read through all the links that Lorraine gave us about learning objects. I think it is a difficult topic for me to understand. However, until now, I know learning objects are entities which can be digital or non-digital to be used to support studies. They can cut down the size of the learning content which make the studies easier. They are independent and reusable. It is seems to me the traditional function of learning objects are more as teaching objects. All objects can be learning objects as long as they can make the learning easier. Those objects can be create something new and develop an understanding in an individual way. The purpose of the learning object is to make someone aware of what is available to use, and let them explore and learn along the way.

Rsources: http://www.eduworks.com/LOTT/Tutorial/

Response from "Text Processing"

“Text Processing” is a very good article to read because the author gives us many tips to get better reading and comprehending skills in online courses. Before I took ED4766, I didn’t notice that online education had that many advantages. After read many articles that Lorraine has provided, I fully understand the advantages of online courses are not only to practice our self-directed learning but also to improve our reading and comprehending skills.

I don’t have very good reading skill. It’s not because English is my second language. I have reading problem even on Chinese. The problem I have is not physical but mental. I usually do not pay much attention on reading things; therefore, I always misunderstand the meanings. Coming to Canada and learning another language is a huge challenge for me. It means I have to read many books using another language which I am not familiar with. However, it is not a bad thing. Because the English is not my first language, I have to be careful and speed down my reading. As a result, I have better understanding on reading English even though it’s still not good enough. I think the problem I have is correctable if I pay more attention and speed down my reading a little bit. I will follow the rules and hopefully get fixed after taking this course.

In order to develop my website, from my own experience, the content that I am going to make in my website should be easy to understand, clear and organized. Therefore, the student can enjoy more about my teaching.

Look forward of my website.

Ref:

Gunn, T, & Beaudin, L. C. (2006). Text Processing: Implications for Online Learning. International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management, 6 (4) pp.89-94

Response from "A Conceptual Model for Unferstanding Self-Directed Learning in Online Environments"

I think “A Conceptual Model for Understanding Self-Directed Learning in Online Environments” is a very useful and interested article. The authors Song and Hill tell us how is self-directed learning (SDL) important to the people and what is the relationship between SDL and the online learning.

I am taking 5 courses and work almost everyday now. The main reason to choose this course is convenience. I don’t have to come to school everyday and I can do my assignment whenever I have time. However, in this situation, the SDL plays a very important rule. The students must have high level independent ability. Also, they should do all the work, including reading, writing and thinking on their own initiative. Self-directed learning is not a new topic for us. Since the first time we went to school, the teacher has taught us to do the homework by ourselves. When we became older, the teacher told us to read some extracurricular text book in order to get better knowledge. The purpose for doing those is not only to get better grades but to improve our SDL. As a last year graduated student, I believe that the SDL is not only useful for the study. It is also very important for the future work.

Taking online courses is the last step to practice the SDL in our school life and it is helpful for future. After reading this article I am all the more affirm that taking online courses is a right choice.

Here is a very fun link. You can do a self-test to see whether or not the online courses are right for you.
http://www.cvc4.org/student_prepare/quizaccess.htm
Have fun!!!!!!

Self- introduction

Hi, everybody. My name is Ai Zheng. I think from the unusual name you can notice that I am not a Canadian. I am an international student from China. My major is Finance. I have studied in Canada for four years. During the four years I have had many different experiences which improved my various skills, such as communication skill, writing skill and cooperation skill. I lived in Calgary for 3 years and went to Mont Royal College there. Last year, I transferred to University of Lethbridge. The reason to choice Lethbridge is because it is a small city which is better for study. I like to live in this city so far. I have many friends and we spend a lot of time together. They are like my brothers and sisters who do not only teach me how to study abroad but also let me know more a bout Canadian culture. We always go gym, listen to the music and go shopping together. I really enjoy my studying life in Canada.

In my opinion the blog should be very useful for online learning. From my own experience, I have my personal blog for many years. Whenever I meet some problem or I need some advices, I write my questions and my worries in my blog. Many people after read my blog would give me some good ideas which helped me to make decision. It is the same idea for online learning. One of the disadvantages of online learning is lack of communication between people. We don’t know anything about our classmates and teacher. The blog makes the distance closer because we can write our thoughts and ideas in our blog. All the people from our class can share their information and give comments to each other. I think it is a good way to know and understand each other. Also, it is a good way to learn more and study more from each other.

It is my pleasure to join our class. I think I will learn a lot from this class. Nice to meet you guys.