SAF New Media Day 4 (25 Nov 10) Reflections

Day 4 of my SAF New Media module...

In the morning, Prof Kate came in instead of Prof Suiker as he had wanted a fresh perspective for the course.  She was around and about, going from group to group to listen to our project outlines.  Ee Ling and Kar Yin went through our group outline and luckily most bits of it went well.  Heng!  Project outline passed, I thought.

However, Kate did highlighted that the main part of our presentation should focus on explaining how new media is effective in our chosen area of training, and how we intend to amalgate the various forms of traditional media to make it 'INTERACTIVE' for the trainees.

Later on in the afternoon, Suiker came in and he too highlighted that should clearly articulate the difference between the traditional way of training vs the 'new media infused training'.  We are also to clearly show to the audience in our project how we intend to make every activity engaging and INTERACTIVE for the trainees.  The key is to show the 2-way interactivity of today's way of training...

SAF New Media Day 3 (24 Nov 10) Reflections

Day 3 was pretty light for me...

Started the day later coz I was at the docs' with me wifey.  Came in only around 0945hrs.

Started to blog on my reflections and then we started on the usual discussions.  We talked about the project and this went on and on and on and on and on...  I guess at the end of the day, the easiest thing was to follow the infamous Army motto of "YSWWL" (if you know the abbreviations, you know :  P)

Afternoon we continue "the discussion" for a while and then was broken into groups to do our project.  Key is to explain how we could possibly introduce "New Media" to complement the existing Mass Media that we have in the Army.

Actually, I realised that we did tried to introduce "New Media" into our already jam-packed Army Training Syllabus!  We are now using Driving Simulator at STTC to train our Tpt Oprs. We use Platform Simulators/AGTS/Next Gen AGTS for Leopard and BX training.  I tried to introduce VBS2 to complement my cadet training back in 2006/2007.  We even gave trainees time to blog on eSilk to share their reflections and to post questions.

Did that help???

In some areas, I have to confess that we did.  But in some, I do think that it can never replicate the exact conditions to 'test' the trainees.  Because the organisation of some of these 'New Media' platforms are based on games, immature trainees started to 'play' the game.  Many were not exactly serious and this leaves the facilitator a monsterous task in trying to guide the trainees.

I also got to realised that today's generation, alot of them are very very good 'speakers'.  Can speak well, reason well, but do not exactly do well.  Nothing beats sweating it out in the sun and instructors 'barking' next to your ear and 'kicking' you around.

Well, what can I say???  I am just an old dog that prefers to go out to the wild and rough it out... : P

To Group Members : This is it...!

Hi all, here's the link to our project in Google Docs.

Enjoy the editing... : P

Project Presentation

SAF New Media Day 2 (23 Nov 10) Reflections

The day started with the class making a "pact" with Steve on the time that we should go off...  Eventually it was set around 1430hrs.  We left at around 1530hrs.  1hr after the set time.  Not that I am complaining but I am just a bit 'sad' that the pace of our lives had taken away much of our joy in learning.  While learning in NIE, we could not even let go of our work for a couple of days or hours and enjoy the learning journey...  I used to remember the days that I was in NTU.  I enjoyed every single minute of my time spent in the labs, tutorials and even the 'boring' lectures.  I would not have traded that for a single minute of my work time!!! : P

The most memorable of my Day 2 was the video that Steve showed us on a project done by a group of students in the US (forgot what the title of the clip was).  The students explained through the use of creative editing and a bit of tacky humour why they loved to 'Multi-Task".  While I do not dispute the benefits of multi-tasking, but I do feel that it had taken a little bit of that "human touch" from our daily lives.  We are so engrossed into doing everything in 'record' time that most of us do not sit back and enjoy the every little detail of our lives...  Do we really have to do so much in so little time.   Is there really no room for failure?  No chance to reflect?  Are we really learning or are we just trying to get things 'over and done with'???

Enough of my grumbling.  Now for the learning.  My greatest takeaway was from the short collaborative activity that we had done as a group.  A shared document was created using Google Docs and we experienced real time what was real time sharing and learning.  Technology had created a platform that we can easily share our knowledge and be connected to everyone in this world at very much the touch of a button!  Discussion could now be done in text form! (good or bad?) and sharing is almost immediate.

Day 2 was a heavy day for me.  Lots of thoughts.

Here is a video that I thought was pretty meaningful to share with the class.

What was I thinking...???

Group 1 Collaborative Project - A Search on New Media

Day 2 sees us experiencing first hand the use of "Wiki" and "Google Docs" as collaborative learning tools in this new age.

Try assessing our project using this link.
http://bit.ly/group1_NewMedia

SAF New Media Day 1 (22 Nov 10) Reflections

What "New Media" Means To Me?

1. Appeals to the present generation because its INTERACTIVE
2. Learners take OWNERSHIP of their learning and has CONTROL over the pace at which they want to learn
3. "New Media Learning" is LEARNER-CENTRIC
4. Using "New Media", learning can take place "ANYWHERE" & "ANYTIME"
5. Promotes COLLABORATIVE LEARNING, hence drives the exploration of new knowledge 'frontiers'
6. DIFFICULT TO REGULATE because of the lack of structure
7. More suited for "EDUCATION" than for "TRAINING"
8. NEED to draw learners' attention to the content and SPEND EFFORT in designing the media for instruction

Is "New Media" Applicable to Me Professionally?

1. Workplace is LIMITED BY COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE
2. Contents to deliver are SENSITIVE
3. Needs more PRACTICAL than THOUGHTS