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Canva makes design simple for everyone. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more.

Autodesk SketchBook is the digital painting, drawing, and sketching software used for coloring, comic and manga art, industrial design, and concept design. SketchBook includes the digital Copic Color Library, hundreds of custombrushes, perspective tools, and symmetry tools. Discover the natural feel of digital drawing in SketchBook with a free 15-day trial on Windows and Mac, no credit card required.

Article that includes an excellent description of universal design for learning. Alnahdi, G. (2014) Assistive technology in special education and the universal design for learning. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology. 13 (2) Retrieved from http://www.tojet.net/articles/v13i2/1322.pdf

In order to create an amazing PowerPoint presentation, you have to learn the process of effective presentation design. After four years of blogging, I've written a number of posts designed to help you create better, visually engaging and effective PowerPoint presentations. As all blogs posts do, some resonated better than others and often provided great discussion in the comments.

Don't let the academic sound of the title push you away from reading this article. The author, Bopelo Boitshwarelo, presents arguments: "This paper set out to propose a research framework that will aid in advancing the research agenda of connectivism, particularly developmental work. " It is very dense with lots of synthesis of research that has been done on Activity Theory, Connectivism, and Communities of Practice from 2000 - 2011, when it was published. If you need to do a content-based paper on activity theory, connectivism, or communities of practice, this has several references listed at the end that will help you find original sources of ideas.

Thanks Melissa, this is helpful. No doubt that many of us are going to benefit from this type of research in our own academic pursuits. As you said, this study is fairly dense. But I also found that it breaks things down in nice chunks. I liked the explanation that a learning community is "a group of people learning together through continuous dialogue."

The author, Bopelo Boitshwarelo, from University of Botswana, points out the interconnections of online communities of practice, design-based research, and activity theory. The author proposes designed-based research as a framework to advance connectivism. I found the first half of this article particularly helpful with definitions and key points synthesized from pioneers in the field of connectivism. Central ideas encompass the importance of learners connecting in a CoP both as providers and gleaners of information. Learning networks or communities of practice are complex and dynamic in nature, providing challenges to researchers and studying their effectiveness. The article provides food for thought about the complexities of the interconnections of these theories and the development of frameworks to monitor and assess learning success when putting them into practice.

This article discusses the components of the current educational structure and how they can be detrimental to continued learning. It also proposes an alternative structure that promotes shared connections and networking.

Written in 2007, this article purposes an "alternative design" to online education that seeks to expose students to a variety of different technologies instead of having them master one. It would then ask students to share new found resources and ideas with other students. Although this "new" concept is clearly the type of education the MET program subscribes to, it is interesting to read about it in a hypothetical sense.

This article argues that personal learning networks will help advance the field of education technology. The author explains the differences between the dominant design of education technology and personal learning networks. The author states that personal learning networks will help people build relationships and connections.

The Labs are intended to engage middle- and high-school youth in mentor-led, interest-based, youth-centered, collaborative learning using digital and traditional media. Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums FY 2011 Deadline: August 15, 2011 Grant Amount: Planning and Design Grants: up to $100,000

"DTF Teaching Tip - Mike Heller, "Designing Multimedia Assignments"" : An educator outlines 5 tips for creating multimedia assignments.

This site holds a wide variety of information about universal design. It holds resources and different implementation strategies for universal design. It also provides ways for people to meet in various ways online to talk about universal design.

1. Keep it Simple PowerPoint uses slides with a horizontal or "Landscape" orientation. The software was designed as a convenient way to display graphical information that would support the speaker and supplement the presentation. The slides themselves were never meant to be the "star of the show" (the star, of course, is your audience).

This website contains great advice on how to prepare for, design, and then deliver a professional and effective presentation. Gary Reynolds wrote the best selling book about how to use presentation software called Presentation Zen.

This resource gives a list of 10 tips for better and more effective presentations. It is easy to get carried away when making a presentation. Referencing these tips will help educators and students keep their slides clear concise, and to the point.

From Harvard business school this text by Dr. Etienne Wenger with its brief outline is for "cultivating" communities of practice.

The author provides seven principles for creating effective CoPs. Each of the principles is detailed throughout the article in an effort to get the most out of your CoP. These principles are geared towards corporations and business but many of them can easily be transitioned into the classroom.

While this article overall is about designing a CoP, I felt it was insightful because it informs the reader of factors that contribute to a successful CoP and the elements required to form one.

By Etienne Wenger, this site offers her defintion and categorization of communities of practice.

This article provides a simple definition of the term - "Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better." Businesses, organizational design, government, educational, professional associations, civic life and development projects use the concept of community of practice to focus on people and the social structures that enable people to learn from each other.

This article focuses on defining communities of practice and includes several examples. I like that they break up the words and meaning to simplify and better understand the meaning and benefits of communities of practice. For example, we might live in a community neighborhood, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we live in a "community of practice."

How two teachers put into practice a connected network of learners. This article features two teachers who worked to connect their students across the globe. Both classes in California and South Africa joined via Twitter, Skype and blogging as they read and experienced a shared novel. Each class offered different learning opportunities. The learners grew as readers and writers, but also as a community of connected learners.

Connectivist theorists argue that the way in which individuals acquire knowledge has changed. Academic institutions (which have historically been considered as the place in which individuals acquire knowledge and information) are being supported and/or replaced by groups of people within a learning network. The process of learning involves the creation of knowledge through these personalized networks and identifying the relationships between one's own knowledge and the knowledge of others within a network. These connections can occur in a variety of ways and with a variety of learners.

This article helped me to understand how to apply connectivism in the classroom. It also pointed out misconceptions that educators have about using social networking in the classroom.

Written by Kegan Remington, an Instructional Designer, the article discusses what connectivism is and how it can be applied in the classroom. He lays out the four simple ways of introducing connectivism in the classroom.

Northwest Missouri State University - Jody Staunch uses Pinterest to show positive examples of web design.

Advancements in assistive technologies have spurred an emerging roster of new digital products designed to facilitate better communication between parents and teachers of children.

"Large-scale studies show that the technology itself doesn't necessarily make a difference. What does make a difference is well-designed technology coupled with well-prepared teachers,"