Cloud Computing Solution: Amazon Kindle

Source: Amazon Cloud Reader

Kindle Cloud Reader is an application for Amazon subscribers to access to their ebook online. Every user is provided with an account. All of their purchase is being stored in a cloud environment provided by Amazon. Once they login, they can access to their ebooks stored in the cloud. If they want to read it offline, they can download the book into their devices on hand for further reading. The device could be Kindle, ipad, or other device with the said application installed. With the cloud environment people do not have to worry about losing their ebook due to hardware failure or some other reasons. The Amazon cloud provides a high availability solution for users. Also the reading would not be limited on a single device.

However, unlike other cloud solutions available for education context. A key element is not in their blueprint of Kindle Cloud Reader, i.e. sharing. The cloud reader is designed to allow only a single account to access to a single book. It is most likely a business concern instead of a technology constraint. Allow sharing of a book means the sales would drop dramatically. In fact intellectual property is one of the major concern of publishers move for digital. They are afraid their sales would drop and at the same time, serious the privacy issue. In fact there are some other problems behind the scene, authors would lose their royalty, again reduce their revenue. It is a chain which affect a lot of people. As a result, it is expect that there would be a lot of tools developed with sharing functions. However, when it comes to anything related to sales or intellectual property, we don’t see any possibility of the said functions to be developed in the near future.

On the other hand, another major concern of cloud computing would be its data security. It is no doubt that cloud service providers would spend a fortune in IT development to ensure the data is safe. However, organizations are worry about whether they information, clientbase, financial information would be leaked for whatever reason. For example, would it be leaked due to political reason, i.e. would you expect Chinese government to put anything confidential into an American based company? Definitely not! Still it doesn’t mean Cloud computing would not success. It is only a matter of what to put in, and for what purpose. For reading purpose like Amazon Cloud Reader, it wouldn’t be a problem at all. The same apply to Google Drive and Docs which web 2.0 elements are even stronger. It is expected that people won’t put something confidential onto Google Docs neither. But as a students like us to put our work there, it is an excellent tool.

Interactive Map: Lamma Island Tourism

Here, we have created a tourism map of Lamma Island. You can click on the icons to see what they represent, or look at the full list of features on the left sidebar.

See the map here!

(Created collaboratively by our group)

Learning Object: "Flight to Freedom"

For our analysis of an LO, we chose to look at "Flight to Freedom", accessible HERE

In this game, students first learn about the origins of 9 real-life slaves in the South of the United States, during the period 1815-1865. During this time, slavery was legal in the South, and these 9 men and women were able to escape their masters and go to the North, where they were able to be free.

To play the game, students select one of these 9 slaves as a "starting point", and then are allowed to make choices about where to escape to, whether to keep running or rest for 1 day, and depending on their choices and which cities they choose to go to, they may or may not be successful in escaping. By following the real-life choices of these slaves, students will successfully escape their masters and the game will inform them why these choices worked and why others didn't.

According to Churchill's classification of LOs, this game is a combination of an information object and a contextual representation.

It is an information object because it gives historical information about the lives of the 9 slaves, as well as the cities they visited. It tells the student what the status of slavery was in each city, and what factors made those places helpful or dangerous to escaped slaves.

Next, it is a contextual object because it provides an authentic scenario, based on real-life history, for students to experiment with different choices and decisions, and to see how those impact the final outcome of successfully escaping slavery, or being caught by the slave masters. Players have the option of where to go next, to wait or rest, and which city to go to. Based on their knowledge of slavery laws in the 19th century United States, students will either be successful or unsuccessful in their attempt.

Studying history could be boring for some of the students, unlike other subjects, such as science, where there could be simulations or even experiments available for students to try. Most of the time teachers who teach history would simply deliver the information, and students would receive passively. Through the LO students are allowed to learn proactively, and using this type of activity can deepen their learning. For teachers, it allows them to bring up some discussion topics and elicit students to discuss.

(Written collaboratively by our group)

Reference:

Churchill D., Towards a Useful Classification of Learning Objects, The University of Hong Kong.

WEEK 4 ---- WHAT PEOPLE EAT (edited by iMovie)

link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/UwbzmklYxFc

Week 3 activities, Web 2.0 tool

Identify an effective use of one Web 2.0 tool that can be applied in teaching and learning that takes advantage of the chosen technology affordances. Add your thoughts to your group blog. Reference to other readings where possible.

Please click here to link to our passage about our suggestion of a web 2.0 tool.

Air Pollution E-Learning Review---Abby(Ruyan Yao)

Our group choose the website about air pollution to do the e-learning review. I’d like to analysis this website in the following three parts:

1.     about the website’s outlook：There are four circle pictures which are buttons can be clicked to new links in the website. This is a relative interesting and attractive way to stimulate students’ motivation to learn the knowledge about air pollution. But the obvious shortages are: firstly, the picture shading is not suitable and good-looking; secondly, the configuration of titles about each part is lack of logic.

2.    about the details: There are four parts of the content. Except for normal sections the meaning of air pollution, the impact of air pollution, the ways to protect air and a project, there are some patulous links about some air protection organizations to rich the content and broad students’ horizon.       It’s quite specific and logical for the details. But the whole substance of this part is still delivered in traditional teacher-oriented mode without students’ own idea.

3.    about the project: It is a good way to evaluate how much the students learn from the website by doing group project. The project’s demands are meticulous and specific which limit the students’ creativity and the ability how to design a project by themselves. In my opinion, it’s not necessary to set the form about the feedback project. We suggest a project students can do if they want, but more own-designed activities are welcome, such like making model about the process of the air pollution, designing and sending air protecting posts or brochures.

My biography---Abby (Ruyan Yao)

Hey everyone! I’m happy to get the chance to show myself to u guys. My name is Yao Ruyan u can call me Abby. I’m from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Mainland China .I just graduated from university in June so I don’t have a form working experience except an intern work in an advertising company. 

My major in university was advertising which I love very much. But after working as an intern in a relatively speaking great company in Hangzhou for six months, I was hesitant about working in this area. Because I worked overtime almost everyday for at least 2 hours, sometime I still needed work at weekends. The working pressure was too much to handle and I thought this was not the work that fit for me. That’s a part of the reason why I chose ITE to get my master degree.

I like listening to the music, watching movies, reading books and practicing calligraphy. When doing all this kind of things, I really feel relax and comfortable.

Optimistic，positive, insist ,those are all my things. Hoping to have a good time with all of u.

OUR MIND MAP

My Biography - Steve

This is Steve Yong. I have been working in various IT sectors throughout my career. Since 2005 I joined a multinational publisher in capacities of IT and operations. My publisher has been publishing textbooks for local K-12 schools in Hong Kong for the past 50 years. In recent years the local government has been promoting the possibility of publishing e-books to replace traditional printed textbooks in order to lower the textbook prices. We have been facing challenges on dealing with such move; i.e. textbook contents, the way to teach, school IT infrastructures, teachers’ readiness, school support, etc. I would like to enrich my knowledge on related disciplines. Not only on IT matters but also how people can really make use of IT to facilitate learning. I have opportunities to visit UK to see how they are doing in ICT and have been exploring how other countries are doing; but it seems like they are not really far ahead of us. There are a lot of examples that can be found on higher education sector but it is rare to have successful cases in kindergarten and Primary school sectors. With the uniqueness of our curriculum and culture it is very likely we have to rely on our own to find out solutions in relevant disciplines. I really hope that I can complete this master program, not only to obtain a well-recognized qualification from a well-known university but also to learn more on IT in education so that I can contribute to my company. I would also treasure chances of sharing with students from different industries and countries, which will only benefit to my way of thinking. 

Air Pollution e-Learning review---Janey (Jiani HU)

 

     I think the e-learning activity of air pollution is quite good but has its limitation. I will state my opinion divided into three parts: advantage , disadvantage and conclusion.

   

       Advantage

1.    Give out a clear list of aims, it let students understand what to learn quickly.

2.    Give out the resources’ link, it let students to learn more about the topic.

3.    Divided the whole learning into four parts: introduction of the air pollution, impact of the air pollution, measures of keeping the air clean and a project for students. It made the learning logical and suitable to cognition and constructivism.

4.    The flashes make the introduction intuitionistic and easy to understand.

Disadvantage

1.   Enough chart and pictures but too many words. Students who join this activity may not so patient to view all these words. Maybe it should use flash or movie to instead.

2.   The whole e-learning activity works like a lecture. Doesn’t let students to collect information and think out the solution themselves.

3.   The last part of project is too huge, it should let students think about the individual contribution.

4.   Doesn’t reach all goals effectively.

      Conclusion

   Refer to the SOLO system, if it could also be a standard for this situation, I think this e-learning activity can reach the level between 3 and 4 (between Multiple unrelated points and
Logically related answer).

My biography---Janey (Jiani HU)

Hello everyone, my name is Jiani HU, and my English name is Janey. I was born in Shanghai, China, on the mainland and moved to Hangzhou, Zhejiang province when I was eleven years old. I love Hangzhou - it's a city with a deep atmosphere of Chinese culture, but it's also modern and active. My major was Japanese studies when I was an undergraduate student. I visited New York, in the USA as an invited student in the first summer holiday of university, and I studied in Japan for half a year as an exchange student. I learned more from my experience when studying abroad than when I studied for four years, from books and lectures. I did three part-time jobs when I was in Japan, the money covered my living expenses and let me travel to many places in the country. I also got the highest grades in my class when the term ended. I learned authentic Japanese culture and met some amazing friends while I was there. Before I came back to China, I decided to work for a famous IT company in Tokyo after my graduation. But, when I got the offer from the university of Hong Kong, I changed my mind, because I wanted to learn more and open my eyes here. Hong Kong is a place with a diverse culture and combines the east and the west. Actually, I am unsure about what kind of things I really want to do and what kind of career I want to start. I think Hong Kong has more opportunities for well-prepared young people and I will try my best to find the way I really want to go.

 

Above is one of my photo taken in Repulse Bay on Mid-autumn Festival

My biography

My name is Peter Dasso. I was born in the USA, but my mother is from Russia and my father is from Peru. I speak Spanish fluently, and a little of Russian and French too. When I was a boy, I lived in many places – Chicago, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina in the USA, as well as Mexico. I played the violin since I was 4 years old, but recently I don’t practice as much as I wish I had time for. I studied History at the University of Texas, focusing on medieval European history. At this time I learned archery through a club in my university, and not long after I obtained my certification as an archery instructor through a workshop at my university. I volunteered teaching archery to children while I was in university. After I graduated, I moved to Beijing, China and I worked at Beijing No. 55 IB World School as a Math and English teacher. I stayed there for a year and a half, and in August I moved to Hong Kong to study my degree at HKU. I’m not sure where I want to live after graduation, I’m still thinking about it!

Air Pollution e-Learning review

I don't think that the Air Pollution e-Learning activity (http://people.cite.hku.hk/dchurchill/examples/Air%20Pollution/pages/frame1.htm) is very well conceived. Although the author seems to have done their research well, the activity seems to be very teacher-oriented and not student-oriented. The information is presented as if it were a lecture, with no chance for the student to discover any answers on their own. Some discussion questions are given, but there is not much to provoke the students to be interested in the topic. The final activity is very unclear to me on what exactly the student is expected to do. The instructions say to develop a proposal to improve air quality, but no conditions or abilities are noted. The students are supposed to hand in their proposal in a Word document, which I think students would find boring. In my opinion, a much better activity would be for students to develop a TV commercial or advertisements to convince people to do their own part to improve air quality, and maybe to make some recommendations about ways individual people can help, such as taking the bus more often instead of cars, using electricity less, and purchasing products from companies that are more green.