Group items tagged

Since the economic downturn began I've noticed much more interest in open source Learning Management Systems (LMS), and it's no surprise that when people ask what the options are, the answer is usually Moodle. Now, there's nothing wrong with Moodle, but it certainly isn't the only open source LMS out there. Because there is no licensing cost involved with open source solutions, its easy for organisations to just jump in and set up the first solution that comes along. There is however a cost to installation and support, either financial or time related. Anyone setting up an LMS has a responsibility to research and choose the solution that is right for the learners and the organisation.

standards should emphasize creative thinking, not content  My students are learning some content-instead of a textbook, I use a primary-source reader in which the sources are accompanied by commentary by historians-but they're learning it as they perform analysis and synthesis, not before. So, for example, I don't have them read them about Puritan conceptions of salvation and then give them photos of headstones and ask them to explain how the headstones reinforce Puritan ideas.  I have them undertake Prownian analysis (description, deduction, speculation, research, and interpretive analysis) of children's headstones and furniture (e.g,. a walking stool); perform close readings of children's literature and Puritan poetry, letters, and sermons; and build an argument concerning Puritans' beliefs about children's salvation.  As they craft this argument, they must evaluate the usefulness of, as well as synthesize their findings from, these sources, along with earlier ones from the course.  The whole exercise is done in small groups, followed by discussion among the entire class.

"BigBlueButton is an open source project that is built on over fourteen open source components to create an integrated web conferencing system that runs on mac, unix, or PC computers. In the true sense of open source, we invite you to try out and participate in our project."

"The Best Sources For Advice On Using Flip Video Cameras" Thirty-Nine Interesting Ways* to use your Pocket Video Camera in the Classroom is a great online presentation from Tom Barrett. 7 Things You Should Know About Flip Camcorders is a good overview on using them in education. Classroom 2.0 has a good discussion on its Forum about using Flips. I believe you can access it without being a member but, if not, it's free and easy to join.

Gives resources for How to use flipcams for newbie and how to use with students in teaching.

We have already covered why Diigo, a web bookmarking and annotation service, is a powerful tool for managing bookmarks, but why stop there?  Diigo can be a very useful tool for helping you to write a college essay or research paper. Since the Internet is a tool that most students use to do research, and since most research papers are based on quotes used from various sources, Diigo provides a way to not only bookmark your sources, but also to manage and access your quotes, notes, and analysis.

I know that we're familiar with most of this, but I don't think it hurts to have a resource that we can pass along to others in this way.

SweetSearch came about as the byproduct of making findingDulcinea, an aggregator that terms itself the "Librarian of the Internet." It's a database of about 35,000 web sites vetted by researchers, librarians, and teachers, with priority given to spots like the Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and other public and academic sources. It sweeps away the pseudo-science, forums, and sites that read like paraphrased summaries.

The 2010 survey data highlight the continuing transition in the higher education market for Learning Management Systems (LMS).  The proportion of survey participants reporting that their institution uses Blackboard as the campus-standard LMS has dropped from to 71.0 percent in 2006 to 57.1 percent in 2010.  Concurrently, Blackboard's major LMS competitors have all gained share during this period.  The percentage of campuses that use Desire2Learn as the campus-standard LMS is up five-fold, from 2.0 percent in 2006 to 10.1 percent in 2010.  Moodle, an Open Source LMS, also registered big gains during this period, rising from 4.2 percent in 2006 to 16.4 percent in fall 2010   The numbers for Sakai, another Open Source LMS deployed primarily in research universities, have grown from 3.0 percent in 2006 to 4.6 percent in 2010.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web. Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations.

"True innovation in Higher Ed will emerge from faculty-driven, open-source projects, not start-up commercialisation"

ideas for teaching primary sources. connected with LC

Library guide that Distinguishes between primary and secondary sources.

For students new to medical school, parsing out the most relevant and helpful information from a seemingly limitless supply of materials can be daunting. The University of Virginia's School of Medicine has created a set of relevant websites that can be useful for medical students and others with an interest in related fields such as anatomy, physiology, and neurology. The links are divided into two dozen topical areas, such as "Gross Anatomy", "Nephrology", and "Surgery". Each section contains links from reliable sources, including the University of Toronto, Oxford University, and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. The "Gross Anatomy" area is very thorough, as it contains over twenty resources that provide an overview of anatomy, anatomical slide shows, and so on

If you are looking for a way to convert, resize, rotate and flip an unlimited number of images, Converseen is worth a look. It's an open source program that supports over 100 image formats and the user interface is easy to use. The site for the program includes a FAQ area and this version is compatible with Windows and Linux operating systems

good list of open source and proprietary software available.

Link in this article to Crowdpixel. Article exaplains need and background Photo crowdsourcing - emphasis is on sporting events

"Pinterest is quickly becoming one of the biggest sources inspiration and innovation when it comes to cooking, design, and education. That's right, education is a prominent fixture on Pinterest now and that, of course, means that education technology plays a starring role."

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments." Arduino is one kind of inexpensive microcontroller now available to the masses. Microcontrollers allow for physical computing, using programming to control physical events, without a high degree of difficulty. 

Tracks - I've tried a number of task tracking software, I've even tried creating my own task tracking software in OneNote and Evernote.  Unfortunately every system/app I tried fell over and I stopped using it. That is when I found Tracks.  Tracks is an open source software (free) that is built to work with the GTD system for organization.  Whether you are a follower of GTD or not, the software is simple, well written, and has the core things that you need to stay on top of your tasks.  Other software tends to have so many features that the core purpose of the software gets lost.  For go the features and use this software, it works.  I signed up for a free account at My.GTDify.com.  I also downloaded the Android app called Shuffle and have it syncing with my online account.  You can even have it sync with your Google calendar.

list of sources of free images from US gov

The Modern Language Association likes to keep up with the times. As we all know, some information breaks first or only on Twitter and a good academic needs to be able to cite those sources. So, the MLA has devised a standard format that you should keep in mind. Its form is: