Web Applications

Web Applications
With regards to learning styles, if I had a more auditory learning, especially in say an online course, I might suggest the Zoho Notebook with some podcasts imbedded. I would suggest this for the simple reason that you can have audio files on the page, and work with notes and images on the same page. Therefore, instead of having them read and post a written response, I might have them listen to an audio file of a short lecture, and then prepare one of their own as a summary. I like Zoho Notebook for this as they can keep notes as they are listening to the audio file all on the same page.
Likewise, this might be useful with a hearing impaired student I currently have in an online class. In this case, I could post illustrative images and text to the page, and have the student respond similarly.
This may not be so much a consideration of learning styles, as learning situations, but I honestly feel that we need to be concerned with both. In teaching my classes, I assign discussion questions for each chapter in the text. I specify that the responses to these questions should be typed. Increasingly, I find the difficulty of students not having access to computers, or having only limited access. Another challenge I can see coming is the lack of access to word processing program. In my own experience, I purchased a new laptop computer this Spring, and the Microsoft Office suite that came with it was only good for sixty days. Luckily, I have another copy of Office at home, and simply transferred the license.
I can see this becoming more of an issue for many of my students, who have enough to pay for with books, fees and tuition. In this situation, I would suggest Google Docs. Google Docs allows a student to choose from numerous document templates, and create the one that best suits their needs. A student could then go online at any point on campus, including the Library, write up their response, and print it out at the library on a printer. If they want to avoid the printing fee, they could even submit the document to me in an e-mail, which I have allowed for several years.
Jim Mc Intyre