Learning in a digital age/LiDA101/Digital technologies
This course is about learning on the Internet. Digital literacies are closely linked but not limited to digital skills. Consequently, this course will use a number of different online communication and publishing technologies to support your learning.
An open philosophy of inclusion
Learning in a digital age incorporates a wide range of online technologies and software applications. The OERu has a strong commitment to free and open source software because we believe that no learner should be denied access to learning for lack of funds to purchase a proprietary software license. Nor do we believe that you should be forced to sacrifice your freedoms in software choice.
The OERu course resources and interaction technologies are based entirely on free and open source software and you will be able to complete all the learning activities using open source applications without the need to purchase any software. You are free to use proprietary technology applications of your choice, but you can also use this course to explore and experiment with open technology.
Summary of technologies used on this course
You do not need a password to access the course materials. However, if you want to post comments and /or receive instructions via email you will need to register an account on the course site by clicking on the "head graphic" at the top of your screen.
Your registration login details will provide you with authenticated access to most of the course technologies hosted by OERu. In some cases you will need to register separate accounts for technologies that are run independently of the LiDA course.
The following table provides a summary of the main technologies used in this course.
| Technology | Details |
|---|---|
| Course resources | Course materials are hosted at https://course.oeru.org/lida101/ and contain the instructions and all the learning pathways to guide your learning. Bookmark this page in your browser. |
| Course comments | Course comments are posted using a technology called WENotes (WikiEducator Notes). You will be prompted to post comments within the learning pathway pages or you can post directly from the course feed page when you are logged in to the course site. |
| Course forums | Course forums are used for discussions. The LiDA101 forums are hosted on [[1]]. Search using the course tag: "LiDA101" (without quotation marks). |
| Course resource bank | The resource bank is a site used to share web links and summaries of useful resources you find online. We encourage learners to share links publicly with your peers. Remember to vote for links you find useful on the site. Search using the course tag: "LiDA101" |
| Course blog | The course blog is used to share the outputs of your learning. Learners are invited to establish their own personal course blog, for example WordPress.com or Blogger.com. In this way you will retain control over your own data even when the course is finished. (Requires separate account registration) |
| Social network | We use Mastodon, a free, open source social network which is hosted at https://mastodon.oeru.org/ (bookmark this page). Our Mastodon instance is a decentralised alternative to commercial platforms, which is dedicated to the OERu community. (Requires separate account registration) |
| Web site annotations | We use Hypothes.is, an open source web-service that enables users to annotate, discuss and share reflections on web site pages on the Internet. (Requires separate account registration) |
| Course feed | The Course feed is a unique feature of OERu courses. Course comments and posts tagged with the course code (LiDA101) on the course forums, your course blog, the resource bank, our social network and Hypothes.is will be harvested and incorporated into the live course feed. This is the hub for keeping track of the distributed course interactions on the web. |
| Unhangout | Unhangout is an open source platform developed by the MIT Media Lab to host participant driven events online. (Requires separate account registration) |
Learn by doing
Some learners will be familiar with these technologies, while others will be using them for the first time. We use a learn by doing approach and you will be prompted in the course materials when to interact with these different technologies.
Initially the use of different technologies distributed on the web may be confusing. However, this is a course about learning on the Internet and once you have completed LiDA, you will become a competent user of these online technologies.
Have fun and enjoy the learning experience.
