In theory, Open Educational Resources and wikis go hand in hand. In our ranks, we have some of the most dedicated and accomplished users and advocates the collaborative online tools. So why is it that the OER article on Wikipedia carries the site's second-lowest quality rating? It's not just one article - the Open Access article shows room for improvement; the Open Educational Practices article doesn't exist; and numerous related articles could be improved as well.
Hi All in EDUC 8844,I have used many multi-media tools over the past years both in my Masters class, at school with elementary and middle school students. I have also used different tools in this c...
Project ROME for Education lets students and educators express, collaborate and communicate ideas using graphics, photos, text, video, audio and animation in a simple, unified content creation and publishing environment to enhance the learning experience.
I've long said that professors who want to explore teaching with technology should begin with a social media tool rather than a Learning Management System. Web 2.0 tools are simple to use, invite student collaboration, and are usually less administratively clunky and complex than an LMS.One of the easiest and most powerful tools is the regular old wiki. Wikis are simply web pages that can be edited by their users. Instead of only carrying content from the administrator, they harness the power of crowdsourcing to create a powerful communal resource.
The author is my grandson ,Shane's, advocate. Without her he would be up the creek without a paddle.
Will My Child Grow Out of It written by Dr. Bonny Forrest is an important book for parents, educators and practitioners. The succinct, accurate description of learning differences and mental health issues is based on extensive research as well as personal case study experience. The topics discussed and suggestions given are realistic yet always positive. The expanded appendix provides resources for action, effective therapies for consideration and medications commonly in use. Most importantly there is a direct link to ProjectSkip, http://www.projectskip.com/. A special code is given for use of this tool, a first step in the decision of whether to seek professional help. While this book is an excellent resource for parents, it could also be an important textbook for educators as well as those studying in the field of psychology
This Website is designed as an inquiry-oriented format which will provide you the viewer with information on Web 2.0 digital tools that will enable you to create 21st century learning environments. The creator of this portal hopes that the results of this project will inspire many educators to create social networks of learning for classrooms across the globe. Whether you're a teacher or student new to the topic of Web 2.0 or an experienced educator looking for Web 2.0 materials, I hope that you will find something here to meet your needs.
Curriki, the online education community, is building the first website to offer free, open-source instructional materials for K-12. We have thousands of free worksheets, lesson plans, exams, project ideas and activities for English language arts, math, science, social studies, technology integration and other subjects. All of our educational material is contributed by teachers and partners and is free and open source.
"Google and Stanford are more than just neighbors in Silicon Valley. They're becoming the leaders in the online learning revolution. And it's all happening fast and starting right about … now.
Stanford, like Google, has now announced a free and open source platform that lets you run your very own Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Stanford's platform, dubbed Class2Go, has big and slightly different aspirations from its competitors. Developed as a non-profit project by eight Stanford Computer Science engineers, Class2Go is meant to offer not only a course-like project but also tools for collaborative research. The latter functionality is a change from what Google, edX, Coursera, and others are offering right now."
So it's worth taking a careful look at whether the company will once again create a new category of device that make waves in education -- as it did with personal computers, digital music players, and smartphones -- or whether the iPad and other tabletss might be doomed to remain a niche offering.
Mr. Jobs did mention iTunesU twice when listing the kinds of content that could be viewed on the iPad, referring to the company's partnership with many colleges to offer them free space for multimedia content like lecture recordings. But he otherwise focused on consumer uses -- watching movies, viewing photos, sending e-mail messages, and reading novels published by five trade publishers mentioned at the event. That does not mean that the company won't later promote the iPad's use on campuses, though, since it waited until after iPods and iPhones were established before beginning to work more heavily with colleges to promote those in education.
the biggest impact of the iPad would be in the textbook market.
only 2 percent of students said they bought an e-textbook this past fall semester.
The City University of New York, for instance, is looking closely at encouraging e-textbooks as part of an effort to lower student costs. "At end of the day, it's how do you drive savings for our students, who are feeling a great economic impact," said Brian Cohen, CUNY's chief information officer.
If students do buy them and begin to carry them around campus, they could be a more powerful educational tool than laptop computers.
Jim Groom, an instructional technologist at the University of Mary Washington, expressed weariness with all the hype around the Apple announcement. He said he is concerned about Apple's policies of requiring all applications to be approved by the company before being allowed in its store, just as it does with the iPhone. And he said that Apple's strategy is to make the Web more commercial, rather than an open frontier. "It offers a real threat to the Web," he said.
He also pointed out that several PC manufacturers have sold tablet computers before, which have been tried enthusiastically in classrooms. Their promise is that they make it easy for professors to walk around classrooms while holding the computer, while allowing them to wirelessly project information to a screen at the front of the room. But despite initial hype, very few PC tablets are being used in college classrooms, he said.
Now that Apple's long-awaited secret is out, the harder questions might be whether the iPad is the long-awaited education computer.
Hello group. I made it a requirement for my "Moral Problems" class (Philosophy 118 at Central Michigan University) to submit a proposal to Pepsi Refresh. Learned that it was very hard to get in, but with diligence, two projects out of 90 got in. One of my students is ranked 7th. We are asking for your vote and in doing so, you will be learning about how to use this as an educational resource. See http://ethics.cmich.edu to access more info.
"The New Learning Institute delivers engaging, personalized, project-based digital media programs to young people and educators. We work in classrooms, after-school centers, museums, and cultural institutions, or wherever learning takes place. Using the latest mobile technologies and digital media practices and tools, we help young people explore their interests, direct their own learning, and better prepare themselves for living and working in the 21st century."
Looking for partners for a global project? Global School net allows you to search for partners from all around the world. Volunteer your class for projects and look for other classes to work with you.
U.S. Department of Education's new National Education Technology Plan, which places a premium on closing the so-called "digital-use divide." In the modern era, the plan says, schools must ensure "all students understand how to use technology as a tool to engage in creative, productive, lifelong learning rather than simply consuming passive content."
In other words, students should be making things and connecting with others and exploring the world, rather than staring at screens.
"In my class, each child decides what it is they want to work on,"
values and beliefs embedded in Craft's classroom projects—student agency, real-world problem solving, hands-on building and experimentation and creation, collaboration with peers and others, working for an audience outside their own classroom, and using technology as a means rather than an end—are what the experts are looking for.
students should be creating something, not consuming something.
ow educators can make that happen, South said, is by offering students choices in how they get to show what they know.
what does passive technology use look like? Why is it a problem
"digital divide" emerging, one that is more about how education technology is used than about who has access to it.
DIY Lesson plans and materials for K12 and above. Very cool platform. Example project:
USE MAKEY MAKEY TO DESIGN A VIDEOGAME CONTROLLER
Students design and make controllers with clay, Play-Doh, bananas, or whatever they desire and link their controller through circuits to their laptop with this innovative circuit board kit.
GRADE LEVEL: 4-9
Created by
Agustin Molfino
Curriculum Writer
PLATFORM TYPE LIKE SHARE
"Do you want to create awesome designs from scratch in as little as a few minutes?
Canva's awesome suite of features make it easy to turn ideas into stunning designs. Simply search for the best graphics, photos, and fonts, then use Canva's drag and drop tool to create a design.
Whether your next design project is a creative collage, a social media graphic or even a web mockup - Canva's features make it possible for anybody to create amazing designs."
Taking Yourself Seriously: Processes of Research and Engagement is the working title of a book by Peter Taylor and Jeremy Szteiter that assembles the tools and processes from research and writing courses taught in the Graduate Program in Critical and Creative Thinking. The most up to date version of the book can be viewed at http://cct.wikispaces.umb.edu/TYS (and associated links, including a link to a full pdf of the book).
"For your research and writing to progress well, your questions and ideas need to be in alignment with your aspirations, your ability to take or influence action, and your relationships with other people. Shorten these items to head, heart, hands, and human connections. Your efforts to bring these 4H's into alignment is what we mean when we invite you to take yourself seriously."
Some comments from former students looking back on the influence of the research courses out of which this book has arisen:
Jane, a healthcare professional and story-teller:
I learned is to 'hold my ideas loosely', which means accepting my own idea as a valid one but always leaving the space open to take in the counterarguments.
I learned to give myself permission to be circular and come back to previous steps or thoughts, and I actually became more comfortable doing so.
I was able to get engaged in a project that I was able to actually use in work, which was extremely satisfying. The whole process encouraged me, and I felt very empowered as a change agent, which could be an exhilarating feeling.
Feed readers
are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they
make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet
easy. Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can
automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a
day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for
anyone.
Imagine
never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources
again. Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of
marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the
thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.
Feed readers can
quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to
provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are
connected to the curriculum. By collecting sites in advance and organizing
them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for
their students.
Here are several
examples of feed readers in action:
Used specifically as
a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to
global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual
research.
While there are literally dozens of different feed reader
programs to choose from (Bloglines andGoogle Reader are two
biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of
many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and
interesting to look at. It is also free and web-based. That
means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet
connection. Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new
websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no
longer interested in.
What's even
better: Pageflakes has been developinga teacher version of their tooljust for us that includes an online grade tracker,
a task list and a built in writing tutor. As Pageflakes works to perfect
its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed
readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a
discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital
home for students.
For more
information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this
review: