The Impact of Open Source Education

The Impact of Open Source Education

Lisa A. Frey

Walden University

Instructor:  Deanna Romano

EDUC-6135-1 Distance Learning

For this module of the Course Project I addressed URLS for beginning distance learners and URLS specifically for Scenario 3, Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, a compilation of systems, including Bloom’s Taxonomy, which assists teachers in planning lessons for English Language Development.

http://www.apastyle.org/manual/index.aspx.  This would help distance learners keep focused on the APA style.  Tip:  Check your work using APA standards.

UC Berkeley Extension Online/Online Courses/Distance Learning. Helps the learner with courses designed for the corporate world, personal growth and development, and in the professional world.  Tip:  Questionnaire – is Distance Learning really for you?

www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses.  Guide to over 250 courses from such universities as Yale and Stanford Universities.  Tip:  Accessible by iPad, iPhone and YouTube.  It takes a while to download these applications but the classes are top quality and free!

customerservice@dalecarnegie.com.  Dale Carnegie is a company that was developed to help people become successful in the corporate world.  Tip:  Used to emphasize personal confidence and sales/leadership techniques.  Now they include community building and even have affirmations set to a student by such “apps” as Blackberry.

http://www.nps.gov/.  Students and teachers can research many things about National Parks in the United States.  Tip:  For the K-12 teacher.  This gives you access to everything from the bats in Carlsbad Caverns to the Colorado River’s erosion of the Grand Canyon.  The website is simple in design but easily accessible and addresses not only locations but distance learning within those parks.  (My home state of South Dakota includes the Badlands.  I don’t have to leave Southern California to go home!

Following are specific URLS to websites for my Course Project for SIOP (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Sheltered+Instruction+Observation+Protocol), which is a compilation of both learning theories and specific  tasks created from Blooms Taxonomy for making lesson plans that include both content and learning objectives that further assist English Language Learners access course material:

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/Obama-41129-Echevarria-Effective-Professional-Development-Using-SIOP-Model-Students-as-Entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/.  Ms. Echevarria is one of the creators of SIOP.

http://www.lclark.edu/graduate/community_engagement/school_transformation/esol_services/SIOP/.  Lewis and Clark University occasionally provides community courses geared to for SIOP training.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CBUQFjAAOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvig.pearsonhighered.com%2Feducator%2Facademic%2Fproduct%2F0%2C3110%2C0205627560%2C00.html&rct=j&q=siop%20model%20urls&ei=BniyTK-sNo2-sQPe8ZDHDA&usg=AFQjCNEQNE3oOacGHxHD_NwJz4acWWz_Xw&cad=rja.  Pearson is a publisher of SIOP materials and one of the training books we use at school is from their organization.

www.cal.org/siop from California State University Long Beach.  This site offers kits for teaching about SIOP as well as instruction from UCLB.

www.everythingesl.net.  I visit this site for ideas for planning SIOP lessons.

Walden University Week 3 Application Scenario

I chose Scenario 3, the safety issues at the biodiesel manufacturing plant.  Lacking technical knowledge I quoted directly from 3 sources in the Safety Issue and the Prescriptions sections.  Inherent in proper safety regarding large biodiesel manufacturing equipment are fire issues, safety equipment issues, and installation, storage and handling issues and I have added them to the Scenario.  Each of the three sites I visited included information about this kind of safety for biodiesel manufacturing plants, not just safe operation of the equipment.

Vegetable Solutions Biodiesel Manufacturing Company has hired me to create asynchronous safety training modules because of a poor safety record.

According to a Biodiesel (methyl Soyate and Rapeseed Methyl Esters [soy and canola oil]) Safety Data Sheet within a Fact Sheet on Biodiesel technology, produced by the State of Oregon, safety concerns exist.  The site indicates that these products do not contain hazardous materials but the chemicals are certainly combustible and are irritants.

Modules would address the first the safety issue and then the prescriptions suggested by the 3 sites I visited.

Following are distance learning technologies that I would use for developing my training.

Safety Issue	Prescription
Unusual Fire and Explosion Hazards	“Biodiesel soaked rags or spill absorbents (i.e. oil dry, polypropylene socks, sand, etc.) can cause spontaneous combustion if stored near combustibles and not handled properly. Store biodiesel soaked rags or spill absorbents in approved safety containers and dispose of properly. Oil soaked rags may be washed with soap and water and allowed to dry in well ventilated area. Firefighters should use self-contained breathing apparatus to avoid exposure to smoke and vapor.”  (Manufacturing Biodiesel Fact Sheet, Oregon Energy Department, 2010)
Spills	“Remove sources of ignition, contain spill to smallest area possible. Stop leak if possible. Pick up small spills with absorbent materials and dispose of properly to avoid spontaneous combustion (see unusual fire and explosion hazards above). Recover large spills for salvage or disposal. Wash hard surfaces with safety solvent or detergent to remove remaining oil film. Greasy nature will result in a slippery surface.”  (Manufacturing Biodiesel)
Storage and Handling	“Store in closed containers between 50°F and 120°F. Keep away from oxidizing agents, excessive heat, and ignition sources. Store and use in well ventilated areas. Do not store or use near heat, spark, or flame, store out of sun. Do not puncture, drag, or slide this container. Drum is not a pressure vessel; never use pressure to empty.”  (Manufacturing Biodiesel)

Safety Gear Summary	“The following gear should be on hand each time you brew biodiesel: • Chemical-resistant gloves (butyl rubber is best for methanol and lye) • Chemistry goggles (indirect vented) • Face shield • Dust mask or cartridge respirator • Plumbed eyewash station • Small spray bottle with vinegar for neutralizing lye spills • Access to running water • Telephone in case of emergency and emergency telephone numbers • Fire extinguishers (20-lb ABC) • Absorbent material and spill-containment supplies” (Biodiesel Safety and Best Practices Management, 2010)
Best Practices for Employees	“Accidents tend to occur when operators are tired, distracted, or hurried. Producers are advised to work slowly and thoughtfully, and to avoid juggling too many tasks at once in the biodiesel plant. Temporary rigging of equipment and shortcuts are high-risk behaviors that often lead to unforeseen consequences.” (Biodiesel Safety and Best Practices Management, 2010)
Best Practices for Supervisors regarding installation of a “safety station” on the equipment floor of a biodiesel production facility.	“A comprehensive approach to safety begins with a whole-system consideration of all potential areas for risk, followed by thorough plans for accident prevention. As a backup, preparations should also be made for response to any accident that may occur. As a general rule, users should obtain and read a copy of the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for methanol and lye, and be familiar with the safety considerations for each chemical.  A “best practice” is to create a clearly labeled “safety station” within the processing facility, where the MSDSs are kept readily accessible. This will allow workers and fire or emergency personnel to readily locate chemical safety information in case of an accident. It is recommended that small-scale producers contact their local fire station to advise them of the processing and chemical storage that may be occurring on site. This will serve to warn safety personnel for their protection in case of a fire, as well as to give fire officials a chance to help small-scale producers address any potential areas of concern. Those who are unwilling to invite fire safety personnel to their facility would do well to consider their ability to responsibly produce biodiesel without incident,”  (Biodiesel Safety and Best Practices Management, 2010)

Best Practices for Safety for Manufacturing Equipment

Step by Step Module showing proper conversion of vegetable oils and lye in a “closed system” to eliminate escape of methanol vapors. Proper plumbing and electrical  installation for safety in biodiesel manufacturing equipment, which can be just electric water. Best Practice Procedures:  Ensuring that the equipment is monitored and turned off when not in use. Ensuring that the heating elements are turned off when methanol is added to the system. Ensuring that sealed processors are equipped with a temperature pressure-relief valve that is compatible with the tubing used to plumb the reactor. Proper venting in the manufacturing system and in the facility. Ensuring that proper equipment is used during installation.  “When plumbing a reactor of any design, stainless-steel or black iron tubing should be used wherever possible, as they are most compatible with the chemicals involved in processing. Galvanized fittings and any copper parts will reduce the oxidization stability (shelf life) of biodiesel, while standard PVC tends to break down over time.”  (Safety In Small Scale Bio-Diesel Production, 2010)

One technology I would use for this would be distance learning created from iSpring.  This would include creation of interactive quiz modules, that are stand-alone and created with Flash or Flash converted Power Point Presentation.  iSpring even  “delivers and  manages e-learning content, get detailed reports on e-learning activity, manage users and organize classes.”  General Electric and Sony are listed as featured customers.    One positive review of this distance learning company is Online Learning 101: Part I, Authoring and Course Development Tools by Susan Landay, June 3, 2010 in www.elearnmag.org/. Another testimonial for iSpring comes from www.ieuga.org/conf2005/sessions.htm.  This was a topic of a presentation of a conference in 2005:  “Collaborative Manufacturing Using iSpring and Expandable Material supply processes are arguably one of the biggest areas of cost for manufacturers. David Ginsberg of Sonic Manufacturing describes how he minimizes procurement costs and reduces material inventory by practicing collaborative manufacturing using iSpring to facilitate approvals, manage exceptions, handle supplier response and perform alternate supplier checks.”

The other distance learning company I would choose would be Camcastia, as suggested by the Technology Resources section of Walden Univeristy.  I would use it for making “videocasts” of SMEs from the Biodiesel company demonstrating step-by-step procedures addressing the safety problems and prescriptions listed above.  I followed several links for customer input  one site indicated that they successfully used Camcastia in their trainings, the link is:  www.techsmith.com/camtasia/uses.asp

I also followed a link generated by Camcastia to Stanford University and their uses of this distance learning site.  http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/casestudy/stanford.asp

www.iSpringSolutions.com 

Safety in Small-Scale Biodiesel Production, 2010, in Farm Energy Home,

www.extension.org/.../Safety_in_Small-Scale_Biodiesel_Production

Biodiesel Safety and Best Management Practices for Small-ScaleNoncommercial Use and Production Pennsylvania State University Pamphlet, 2008,http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/agrs103.pdf

Manufacturing Biodiesel, Pamphlet, 2010, www.deq.state.or.us/aq/factsheets/06-AQ-014biodiesel.pdf

Blog Assignment: Defining Distance Learning

Blog Assignment: Defining Distance Learning

My definition of distance learning was that it was a method of using the computer to deliver coursework.  That’s all!  Observations:  At first  I thought that it was very difficult and confusing (I remember how my enrollment advisor struggled to explain how to attach a document!), and I was afraid I was too old to be a distance learner.  I had heard stories about how people with poor organizational skills would fail, immediately, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the course work.

I was in high school and advanced placement classes, in the early ‘70s weren’t even a concept.  Computers we just being scaled down from the city-block sized Eniac card-readers and this was mainly due to the space program.  Some lucky students were able to take evening courses from the local community college, in the next town, so any enrichment had to come from correspondence courses.  This was even before the era of videos!  Your own classroom teacher had to proctor quizzes and tests.  I took courses from UC Berkeley and they came in huge boxes.  (An aside:  at one time, in the early part of this decade I assisted with our school district’s home-schooling program.  The district bought each home-schooled student a box of curriculum from Calvert – as was mentioned in the time-line video.  It curriculum was wonderful and “box” well-thought out from paper and crayons to art!  The concept was a hundred years old but it was still great.)

To be honest it wasn’t VCR or Beta Max that caught my attention about the possibilities of long-distance learning, but that of the facsimile machine.  I was in the Signal Corps.  We used clunky radio-teletype machines with oscilloscopes (not too different from those in 1950’s science fiction movies) and low-frequency radios to communicate throughout our military division.  In  1982 I saw a demonstration of a fax machine that could read signals that were so full of static no one could speak over them and produce an error-free printed page.  This was my first glimpse into what technology could do within the realm of communication.

My personal definition of distance learning changed quite a bit from those years, and it did this week, as well.  Especially reading the part two of the Moller, Forshay and Huett article in Tech Trends that addresses faculty issues, I learned that it seems that professors who teach classes designed by someone else have not received adequate pay, have not received enough time to become familiar with the course material, and still have to prove that they are worthy of receiving royalties for their intellectual work and tenure, too.  I expected that the institutions would be enlightened and would be accepting of all aspects of distance learning.  Apparently politics is as much of an issue in technology as in other parts of the academic world. 

My definition of distance learning is that it is a method of delivering course content to students through technological advances, both on-line, and in the classroom (I use, as classroom examples, technological devices that give students access to each other like the I-Phone and the availability of advanced applications such as Walden Library and Google Scholar).  Teaching students through rigorous courses, expectations of high-quality student response, and timely and thoughtful professorial feedback are still the object of distance and face-to-face learning. The same political, economic and social issues that students and professors face, anywhere, exist in distance learning, too.  

I feel that distance learning is tremendously responsive to technological and social advances and will continue to evolve to mirror advances in these fields.  What I firmly believe will be a strong factor in the development of distance learning is what I see in modern students, themselves.  In my opinion young people seem to be less competitive and more concerned for their fellow students.  This consideration crosses international boundaries, too, and gives students the motivation to provide service to others.  Distance learning, in my opinion, will give young people the ability to bring peace to our world.

Mind Map for Blog Assignment

References:

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.