Gilly Salmon's e-tivities are important ideas, particularly
for those who think of e-learning as the solitary process
of reading pre-made and pre-selected study materials off the
computer screen. E-tivities, in contrast, are intensely interpersonal
and their results are not known in advance. But they do not
happen based only good intentions; Salmon's book is a valuable
guide to scaffold their development for the instructor or
facilitator as well as for those who ‘train the trainers’.
The idea of the learners leaving ‘footprints’
for others to follow is particularly powerful.
Prof. dr. Betty Collis
Shell Professor of Networked Learning, University of Twente,
The Netherlands
For many training professionals, e-moderating offers a compelling
new opportunity to play a business-critical role. A future
is beckoning. E-tivites offers an eminently practical guide
on how to begin and advance in this role. It is written in
simple straightforward language and is full of practical examples.
Gilly Salmon argues that the future of e-learning lies beyond
information and will be about greater interaction and participation.
Her awareness of the current challenges facing trainers in
organisations is apparent from the opening paragraphs. Her
central questions are 'how can teachers and learners use technologies
happily?' and 'how can we create environments to make success
more likely?'. Her philosophy is that 'e-tivity' processes
should be directed towards engaging on-line learning that
results in their achieving the outcomes they and the organisation
desire. She offers sensible advice, written in a clear style,
on how this can be done.
Martyn Sloman
Author of THE E-LEARNING REVOLUTION, UK
Gilly Salmon’s latest book E-tivities: The key to active
online learning reflects her passion to encourage today’s
online instructors. Salmon has addressed the need for relevant
online instructional activities that can be used in a diversity
of academic disciplines. Salmon’s online work at the
Open University has provided an excellent basis to develop
a research-based book. Instructors will appreciate the creative
ideas and activities that support her innovative five stage
teaching and learning model. The book offers practical strategies
that personalize student learning and cultivate interaction
within classes. Contemporary distance educators will find
a wealth of valuable curriculum resources in E-tivities that
can energize their students by participating in meaningful
and intellectually challenging projects.
Brent Muirhead D.Min., Ph.D.
Area Chair, MAED Curriculum & Technology, University of
Phoenix Online, US
Another classic how-to book from an expert in the field. This
book will provide ideas and stimulus to online tutors everywhere.
It is a hype-free zone, full of practical, tried and tested
approaches to engaging learners in online discussion.
Professor Robin Mason
The Open University, UK
E-tivities really is a marvellous handbook. A practical guide
to the new e-learning, it takes the angst out of online tutoring
and provides a much needed comfort zone. E-tivities is the
craft of online tutoring made easy.
Dale Spender, Australia
Online learning is growing rapidly. There can be few colleges,
universities or large businesses that have not experimented
with it so some extent. While there has been considerable
interest and investment in the development of online learning
materials, the issues surrounding online learning support
have received less attention. E-tivities: The key to active
online learning is hard to put down. I was fascinated by the
host of different voices that speak from every page, offering
an insight into the often closed and sometimes daunting world
of online learning. It is so packed with real life experiences
that it is essential reading for anyone new to online learning,
either as student or tutor. Learners will find plenty of guidance
on how to make sense of their own experiences and the 'Resources
for Practitioners' are a valuable mine of ideas that must
have taken thousands of hours to develop and refine to the
point where they can be offered here as succinct nuggets.
Whether or not you like the term ‘e-tivities’,
I expect the well researched ideas and suggestions and the
conceptual framework offered in this book will have an important
effect on the quality of online learning and teaching. Practical
books which offer useful guidance which is more than mere
‘cookbook’ tips are all too rare. This is one.
Read it and judge for yourself.
Professor Stephen Brown
Professor of Learning Technologies, De Montfort University,
UK
Gilly Salmon's previous book provided an extraordinarily useful
framework for practitioners in understanding the development
of an online community of learners.
In her new book she has distilled her considerable experience
of online teaching to provide the fabric for this framework
in the form of literally hundreds of online activities within
each stage, making it essential reading for all online teachers
who want to reflect on how they can provide rich and rewarding
online experiences for their students.
Professor Shirley Alexander
Director, Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, University
of Technology, Sydney, Australia
E-tivities: the key to active online learning by Gilly Salmon
provides a very practical way of engaging students in online
collaborative online learning. It is the first book that I
have read that actually deals in a very practical way with
the very thorny problem of how to get students to collaborate
successfully with peers in learning projects using textual
computer mediated communication. I'm happy to say that this
book goes beyond such superficial advice as 'make sure that
online activities count towards students' final grades'. Encouraging
online participation by such extrinsically motivated ploys
will put students off who are looking for a meaningful experience;
particularly if the activities seem trivial and could be done
in other ways, or contribute little to the goals of the course,
as is so often the case.
Based on her many years of working with students and tutors
at the British Open University, Dr. Salmon has devised a model
for e-learning which she supports with a range of 'how to
do it' and 'try this' examples for novice instructors who
want to use computer-mediated communication with their students
but who aren't sure what to do or where to start. Many of
these suggestions are unthreatening and can be tried by anyone,
others are more challenging and will be useful for those with
experience in online teaching. E-tivities is clearly written,
enjoyable to read, and it is a must for
anyone planning to teach an online course.
Professor Jenny Preece
Department of Information Systems, University of Maryland,
US
There are infinite possibilities for how we engage and facilitate
online learning groups. The only problem is most of us mere
mortals do not have five lifetimes to try them all! Gilly
Salmon's new book, "E-tivities" offers practical,
unstuffy, down to earth examples and formats, ready to use.
My only advice is don't just read the first section and start
doing
them -- read through to the end to understand that although
these are "recipes," learning online is not a cookbook
-- the book is just one of our tools. Dive deeper into the
activities which take learning to it's more complex levels.
That's where the rewards are to be found. Challenge yourself
to go to level 5!
Nancy White
Founder Full Circle Associates US http://www.fullcirc.com |
