A robust, faculty-driven resource site from Oregon State University supporting the development of hybrid courses. Design documents excerpted from the work of OSU faculty and short mini-presentations on hybrid design are just a couple of the features of this site.
New direct (pdf) link for George Siemens' "Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning" and explanation from George of what happened to the original text linked from Ch02 of the BlendKit Reader.
An alternative schema to the "digital native" vs. "digital immigrant" dichotomy. Emphasis is placed upon one's own adaptation to technology-rich culture using the axes of "access" and "participation" to form a classification quadrant. Some observations are particularly relevant for participation in informal learning via Personal Learning Networks and open, online courses as well as in technology-mediated academic courses.
Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) are all about using web tools such as blogs, wiki, twitter, facebook to create connection with others which extend our learning, increases our reflection while enabling us to learn together as part of a global community.
The purpose of tagging is to help make it easier for the content to be easily found.
Blogs, wikis, podcasting, video sharing websites (e.g. YouTube and Vimeo), photosharing websites (e.g. Flickr and Picasa), social networking sites (e.g. FaceBook, Twitter) are all examples of Web 2.0 technologies.
Lengthy, substantive piece on blogging for educators, starting from "what is a blog," continuing through Web2.0 tools, and ending with Personal Learning Networks. Something for everyone here.
danah body (she prefers lowercase.) is a highly regarded thinker on all things internet. In this piece she addresses the dynamics involved in being connected to a "flow" or stream of networked information.
The results of questionnaire responses and document analysis from eight Canadian universities form the basis for this 2011 report on the state of blended learning in Canadian higher education.
A technical and philosophical implementation guide for media authors who wish to use Creative Commons licensing. Of particular note are the detailed practical instructions for marking specific file types with a CC license.
This brief article provides an overview of Creative Commons relevant to educators. While copyright laws provide some provision for educational uses, materials (e.g., texts, videos, audio, images, etc.) released under one of the Creative Commons licenses are actually much easier to incorporate into course content. Rather than just linking to a source, you may have the licensed right to incorporate and edit the material directly.
If you haven't seen this five minute video and if you're interested in interaction with learners, it's worth a look. A professor at the University of Texas - Dallas documents what happens when she decides to experiment with Twitter in the classroom.
Simmons College instructor Karen Teeley describes her decision-making process for deciding what goes online and what goes face-to-face in her blended learning course. This case study features short video clips, complete text transcript, and an example simulation exercise from Teeley's course. In addition, she provides a sample welcome letter, student expectations statement, and a couple of evaluation rubrics from her blended course.
Simmons College instructor Madalaine Pugliese describes her design process for blended learning courses in this case study featuring short video clips, complete text transcript, and actual example documents from Pugliese's design/teaching practice. Of particular note are the sample course schedules from the "traditional" and blended formats of her course and her storyboarding process for blended learning course design using index cards.
The University of Manitoba's Learning Technologies Centre has assembled a brief literature review on blended learning formats/definitions. This brief compilation surfaces the complexities inherent in blended learning approaches
Interview with one of the contributors to the Innosight report on K12 blended learning. She contrasts blended learning's potential for disrupting the status quo with its possible use as a sustaining influence on existing educational structures.
There are some marked differences between K12 models for blended learning and those found in higher education. Nevertheless, there are some similarities in the K12 and higher ed contexts that bear examination. At the very least, the diversity of K12 approaches in this report underscores the many variables that can affect one's "personal blend" when conceptualizing blended learning.