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A doctoral thesis from Umeå University shows that students gain increased power within higher education. The reason is the rise of digital media.

Peter Bergström, from the department of applied educational science, investigates how the education for teachers and nurses has changed as a result of new digital teaching methods. The research is based on long distance students whom are dependent on new technology for learning. Bergström notes that a power shift has taken place, where students have been given increased influence, while the role of the teacher has changed. Bergström explains the shift by arguing that the focus has shifted from teaching, to learning.

Knowledge is power

Bergström’s conclusions show that knowledge is indeed power, even in the classroom. A teacher whose function is no longer based on having access to more knowledge than the students must reconsider his role, and reinvent his methods of aiding the students’ learning. Considering the times we live in and the enormous amount of information that is available, these conditions are a fact. Within the realms of long distance education where digital teaching methods are standard, these conditions are even more apparent – and thereby important to reflect on.

The right amount of freedom

As a researcher Bergströms job is to explain the current conditions and the development that has taken place. For us, who are at the other side of this, creating the technical devices used for learning, there is another job to be done.

We must take Bergström’s conclusions seriously, and continue to develop methods that focus on learning – rather than education, without losing track of the role of the teacher, or the importance of a framework. It’s an act of balance, where the students’ interests and ability to self-learning can’t be limited by a hierarchical relationship between teacher and student. At the same time we must maintain certain structures in order to be able to set clear goals, since learning without any sense of direction, in a society flooded by information, can’t be equalled to a quality learning process.

For our part we spend a lot of time reflecting on learning as driven by lust, and how we learn different behaviours.
More on that next week.

Image: Umeå University.

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New reports show that e-learning decreases anxiety among cancer patients by offering updated and easily available information about their treatment, as well as contact with experts.
Net-based treatment with advice on self-care has proven efficient at decreasing anxiety among cancer patients remarkably. The report is based on results from an experiment at a Norwegian hospital.

Anxiety relief

Being diagnosed with cancer means that life changes in the snap of a moment, and many questions rise as a consequence. Many people seek answers on the net and google frenetically in order to understand and gain control, but the right answers are not always easy to find. Reading hundreds of articles of varied quality may even lead to more worry, as the many voices contradict each other.

Norweigan hospitals have therefore developed a program for net-based support for cancer patients. The program functions as a type of psychosocial treatment, at the same time as it provides advice on self-care and information about the type of cancer the patient suffers from.

The method has proven very efficient at decreasing the patients’ worry and anxiety. Net-based support is also more cost-efficient than having the patients call in and book appointments with doctors in order to discuss their concerns.

The magic of individual adaptation

The major benefit with the net-based programs is their ability to adapt to the individual. Each patient can navigate among the information provided and seek the answers that are most relevant to him or to her, and the availability is unlimited. The support is there whenever and wherever the patient needs it.

It’s this type of individual adaptation that makes e-learning so smart, that regardless if the knowledge is intended to treat anxiety, increase sales or implement a new policy smartly produced e-learning can meet each individual’s needs on spot.

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Articulate has released Storyline, the world’s most powerful and user-friendly tool for creating e-learning.

Articulate has worked hard to develop Storyline. Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker have long been important tools for e-learning builders across the globe, and they can still take you a long way – but Storyline takes it all to a different level. With functions for advanced interactivity and the possibility of publishing on iPads, Storyline gives e-learning a new horizon.

Powerful and user friendly

Storyline is built with the intention of making it possible for anyone to create powerful and smart e-learning, without needing programming or design skills. It’s built with a number of smart functions that allows the user to create advanced solutions in a simple way.

For example, you can build several layers on the same slide in order to adapt the response to the actions of the user. Storyline also comes with a number of characters that you can use to make your e-learning more personal. All in all, it’s never been easier to produce high quality e-learning and transform your ideas to practice.

We have the best prices

As partner and reseller of Articulate in Norway and Sweden we always offer very good prices. Right now we celebrate the release of Storyline with a premier price for the first 100 buyers.

We also offer support, training and workshops for all of you who want to develop your e-learning skills and get the most out of Storyline.

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New reports from Statistics Sweden shows that every fourth student in Sweden studies on long distance. This is a major increase compared to before. Since 2005 the number of students studying on long distance has increased with 41 %.

During the same years we have gotten used to a digitalised everyday life. YouTube came 2005. Facebook and Google came in 2004 and shortly after became popular in Sweden. During 7 years we have gotten new habits, new ways to relate and in many respects a new society.

Educate yourself smart

This change is also apparent within education. The reports from Statistics Sweden, in combination with the governments Digital Agenda, shows how important the digital development has become to how we learn.

The major benefits with digital teaching methods can be summarised in flexibility and adaptation to the individual. An ordinary course book only contains as much as its pages can hold. There are references in the back, and it is possible to seek new information based on the content of the book, but all types of further research will demand an active engagement from the student.

Adaptable structure

Digital courses can be built according to a completely different structure than the linear logic of a course book. Each part can be presented with a number of possibilities for in-depth studies, which will lead to a deeper and more dynamic course structure. References will lead directly to relevant web pages with only one click, making it easy for the student to navigate his way to endless new perspectives. Other parts of the course that may be less relevant can be briefed through, or simply skipped.

The result is that the student, to a much larger degree, controls the learning experience by navigating his way through the course content, instead of acting a passive receiver of a lecture or a book. This possibility is the major advantage of digital learning methods, since it puts the student at the center and provides it with an individually adapted learning experience.

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We are partners with Articulate and their reseller in Sweden, Norway and Finland. This means that we have long known about the greatness of their products, and how fantastic the Articulate-team is. But we want you to know this also.

Therefore we were happy to find the above tutorial as it goes through all of Articulate’s current products and their functions. The entire presentation is 54 minutes and then you get to know everything you need to know, but you can also choose to view certain parts that interest you more by clicking on them.

Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker

The film covers Articulate’s three main programs: Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker. All of these are fantastic tools to make your e-learning more interactive. Presenter is an effective tool to add interactive exercises and elements that make you course more dynamic. Your course will still have a linear structure and resemble a presentation, but the way of presenting the new knowledge will make the user reflect and take an active stand, which sparks interactivity.

Engage is a tool to add graphics and design to your course, without needing to know anything about design or programming as Engage does the work for you. Again, the idea is to make the course more interactive, this time by challenging linear structures and creating functions that allow the user to click his own way through the information provided and thereby be led by curiosity and his own logic.

Quizmaker is, just like it sounds, a tool to create quizzes with alternative answers. The charm of Quizmaker though is that the questions and alternative answers are not limited to regular 1,X,2-questions, but are presented together with a scenario so that the questions symbolizes different options of action. With Quizmaker you can also add feedback to the different alternatives and thereby introduce ways of reasoning and thought patterns that may lead to new behaviors and sense-making.

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