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" "Even young kids have gotten very adept at Minecraft, so it can be quite intimidating for teachers," said Jason Schmidt, an instructional technologist for Bennington Public Schools who will teach the four-week MinecraftEdu MOOC, in a prepared statement. "If I can help get teachers over that hump, imagine how delighted students will be to have a learning environment tailored to their interests for a change." The other, Minecraft for Educators, "is a course for teachers who are wishing to gamify their learning experiences and deliver a unique pedagogy that will engage, enthuse and keep learners coming back for more," according to information released by the company. Both MOOCs are available through the Canvas Network. Minecraft for Educators will start January 26, 2015 and run through March 9. The company has also released a Minecraft app to allow students to submit assignments to the Canvas learning management system from within the game. Using the app, students can tag what they've made in the game for their teachers to visit, upload books they've written in game directly to the speed grader or use the game's circuitry tool to complete assignments that will be automatically graded. A video demonstration of the app is available at YouTube. Other MOOCs for teachers in the suite include: Digital Literacies 1; Digital Literacies 2; Five Habits of Highly Effective Teachers; Teachers without Borders: Educating Girls; and Tinker, Make and Learn. Among the other MOOC offerings in the new suite is a course designed specifically for parents, Parenting in the Digital Age, which aims to help them address issues such as cyberbullying, digital citizenship, exposure to inappropriate content, media literacy and screentime. Taught by Andrew Swickheimer, director of technology at Noblesville Schools, the self-paced course opens September 22. "Parental involvement in K-12 education has one of the biggest impacts on a child's commitment to learning," said Jared Stein, vice pres

Moodle News for all moodlers

"It's been a heady first month in Northfield Community Middle School's Technology, Engineering, and Design program. Kids are raving, parents are beaming, and it was a great start. But . . . what assumptions have we made that were valid? Or not? What's going well? What could be better? What adjustments are we making now that "Design Experience Zero" in Digital Shop has wrapped up, and our gamified learning management system, Black Mesa, is in full swing? Finally, what's ahead for the program longer-term? Back when our fantastic new learning space was still all gleaming and ready for kids to experience, compliments started rolling in, but I reminded people that creating the space and even building our LMS had been the easy part. The hard part would be (and is!) creating authentic learning experiences that purposefully engage the kids in mindful exploration (the Manifesto, remember?). Our goal: make the kids "life ready" by challenging them to take charge of their own learning -- something that school had never really asked them to do."

Wizer is a fantastic free tool for creating simple digital worksheets that enable learners and teachers to do some pretty complex things. When I first discovered the tool a few months back I was really impressed by how easy it was to create really engaging blended learning content for class or homework, so it's great to be able to publish this Q & A with Nira Mayorchik Sheleg the Co-founder & CEO.

"iPads and Mobile Media in Education"

Free and easy way to manage courses online.

Claroline is an Open Source eLearning and eWorking platform allowing teachers to build effective online courses and to manage learning and collaborative activities on the web.