Reflection

=Reflection= The e-portfolio is a very promising way in which ideas in education can be shared to learners from diverse locations. From the experience that I had developing this online learning activity, I strongly recommend use of screencasts as a way of delivering education where educators need to demonstrate certain aspects practically. E-portfolios can also be used to give specific directions of going about a particular task and can be available to many people regardless of geographical proximity. This makes a boundary-less community which is more effective. During the development stage of the portfolio after I had gathered all the requirements and came up with the problem definition looked for ways in which I would develop an online intervention that students could use to scaffold themselves and develop better computer programming skills. The software created was of high quality compared to capturing videos using a video camera which would need expert services.

However, after the screencast was developed, the problem came when trying to upload it for students to access it through various means. The upload were easier on the LMS hosted n the intranet because there was a direct connection to the server but uploading it on other platforms such as Youtube, Facebook and sending on emails was impossible because of the large file size and low bandwidth. This was the most frustrating part as it took more time to try and figure out a way around this. An emergency situation calls for an emergency measure, this made me try to race on the clock in order to meet deadlines as well as justify the need for such an intervention. Compressing the file was on option one to try and reduce the file size and also coveting the screencast which was originally in avi format to a format that is viewable on most platforms in this case mp3. Efforts to get the file smaller became to yield results but started introducing even more problems. The quality of the screencast deteriorated with every effort to reduce the size of the file which would obviously have a negative impact on the outcome expected. This made me decide to settle on the optimum size that would not reduce the quality of the screencast as well as fail to be accessible for the target group of learners. This resulted in having the screencast available on the LMS where students could download and as soft copies that students could save on flash disks or write on DVDs.

I would further recommend educators to continuously search for ways to refine what they offer in teaching different courses. The experience I had certainly left me in a better position as both an educator and a student. As an educator, I now value analysing the context that a learning need is in as well as coming out with specific requirements before jumping on to development. As a student I now value exploration of newer ways of doing things to reduce monotony and improve on overall learning.



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