Resources / Links - Distant Learning

Designing Learning

Distant Learning

Reference Material / Books
Internet Links
Multimedia & Activity Packs

Reference Material / Books

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Internet Links

http://www.baol.co.uk/sitemap.htm
This is the website of the British Association for Open Learning. The BAOL is a non-profit making organisation, whose members include education and training providers, consulting and research organisations and public libraries. This website contains very detailed information of interest to trainers. The Visitors' Site Map link provides access to information on the BAOL Quality Mark, the Open Learning journal, Press Releases, Membership Details, Regional Events, Research and Learning Centres. The Research OL Topics link leads to the Learning Technologies link. This contains usesful and well-written telecommunications information such as a "Comparison of Telecommunication Technologies and Dan Kegel's ISDN page. The Open Learning Today link provides access to summaries of articles published in the journal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/index.shtml
BBC
This website contains training material for four languages, French, German, Spanish and Italian. The Talk French button links to a multimedia course in beginner's French. The course can be accessed online and used on a stand-alone basis or in conjunction with the BBC TV programme. The Deutsch Plus Online button links to a multimedia website for learning German. This is similar to the Talk French course, in that it can be used alone or with the TV programme. The Spanish and Italian courses are called Make Spanish your Business and Make Italian your Business. These are designed to teach business Spanish and Italian. Again, they can be used alone or in conjunction with the TV programmes of the same name. Audio tapes and books of the courses can be bought in bookshops. There are several teaching resources linked to these courses. Some of these can be downloaded and some can be ordered by telephone from the BBC.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/
Open University
This website lists the courses run by the Open University. A click on the subject of your choice brings you to a list of the courses run on that subject. There is a very large range of subjects available, and most of them can be studied singly, or combined with others to obtain a qualification. Each course title is a link to a description of that course. Throughout the Open University website, there are links to Subject, Essential Information, Reserve, Search, Courses and Qualifications and Learner's Guide. This website is very easy to navigate, the explanations are very well written and it is very user friendly.

http://www.learningdirect.org/ld-e.htm
Learningdirect is a UK based learning and careers information service provided free by a public-private partnership. The main aim of the website is to get people to ring the freephone number which is constantly flashing on the screen. Nevertheless, there is plenty of useful information on the website. There is a link on the sidebar of the home page to ten factsheets. Their titles are: Learning - What's in it for Me?, Making Sense of Qualifications, How Can Learning Help Me at Work?, Learning and Disability, How to Get More Advice, Childcare and Studying, Where Can I Study, Learning by TV and Radio, Computers and Learning, and Financial Help for Learning. Each factsheet contains detailed information and useful links for that topic. Links: the home page contains links to over 20 other learning-related websites.

http://www.open2.net/
This is the Open University's official website. It has information about the courses on offer, and samples which you can try out.

http://www-iet.open.ac.uk/pp/D.G.F.Rowntree/Supporting%20online.htm
This site consists of a paper published by the professor of Educational Development at the Open University. His topic is: "The Tutor's Role in Supporting Distance Learners via Computer Conferencing." This online paper gives and Introduction, a discussion on 'What's so special about online course?', 'What is it like to learn and teach online?', 'Collaborative Learning' and References.

http://www.online.edu/
On-line Education Company
This is a commercial site. However, it features good course outlines. There is also a "studying on-line" demo. This takes a minute or two to download but it is full of details on how the course is designed and shows how the student interacts throughout the course with quizzes and various other novelties.

http://home.earthlink.net/~desertdune/
S. Greenspan, an instructional designer with international experience, created this site. His skills include: Project Development, Needs Analysis, Internet and hands-on training for groups and individuals. The site is about web-based training (Distance Education). The purpose of the site is to illustrate a variety of techniques that may be used in developing computer and web based materials to provide cost-efficient training. The application of web-based training means that more people in more locations will have access to knowledge. Greenspan adopts five approaches: Auditory, Explanatory, Interactive, Instructional, And Inspirational. He uses examples from his instructional experience in Africa. One interesting section in this site demonstrates the use of "interactive mouse-overs" in instructional design.

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Multimedia & Activity Packs

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