EDUC251

I find this to be a really interesting teaching approach, proposed by Indian educator Sugata Mitra. It's a model of group learning, via computer, with feedback by a benevolent observer. To me, to me this is one of the best examples of the "knowledge constructivist" approaches to teaching and learning. I'll be curious to see what you all think.

This was amazing! So many different things to comment on - from teachers wanting to be closer to city center; to more girls using the computer in remote area than in the urban city; and of course, the experiment itself - leaving a computer and having learning occur - from not only learning the computer, but how to learn English. Thanks for sharing this.

Being a guy, I was somewhat taken aback by the startling new statistics presented at a recent TED TALK by Hanna Rosin regarding the world-wide decline in male accomplishments/status relative to women. Rosen makes the point that the Marlboro Man and alpha male top-down manager, are going the way of the DoDo bird and dinosaur. Her point is that women are better at collaboration and consensual communication - which are skills well suited to our social networks and information-based economy. For example, how come I'm the only guy taking this class on how to build collaborative online learning environments - where are my male compadres?

Here's a blog post related to that video. http://www.21stcenturycollaborative.com/2011/02/genderdiversity/

Yup, she was right on. Until these concepts change...women stay inferior and get beaten...down, too.

This site is from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There is a list of numerous resources on evaluating quality in all types of online learning. So if I wanted to see what other organizations were using to evaluate, there is an article geared toward benchmarking. There are also several articles on distance learning and accreditation

For Module 5 assignment, I wanted to share a wonderful, collaborative project done with VOICETHREAD (I'm not sure the link is working!)

This weeks lesson on CMS or LMS includes the Wiki...which I just love. I am certain as I use this tool, there will be probs. Right now, I really like it. Coupled with Elluminate as a synchronous meeting area, it can by pass the older LMS systems. For example, a instructor at Shoreline is working on updating Elluminate to fit their needs for teaching completely from this system. Unfortunately, I may never see the end result.

For my reference

"While no list of apps can ever be complete, these are the apps that were demoed at OETC's ITSC conference in Portland, Oregon in February of 2011."

It would have been great to see these demoed to see what would work. The number of them and many of the topics seem like they'd be very helpful tools. Technology is really changing - and quickly - how we do things. Not education related, but to that point, was an app recently demoed that can be a heart monitor - there is a special metallic interface between the iPod/iPhone and the person. Really amazing and revolutionizing!

I'll withhold judgment on this. What do you think?

I have one thought about this. California has been ahead of WA when it comes to turning out online teacher/instructors for community colleges. I could get the training I am now, at the U of CA (not certain which one) and at U of Utah; but this program on BC is new.

As an optional resource, a youtube introduction to MOOCs ((Massive, Open Online Courses) is given. As I understand it, MOOCs the "term" basically describing a collaborative "blog" on a topic. The concept is that courses can be offered with everyone who wants to to participate and/or take the course. The above link, I think is a good example of a MOOC and it is on eLearning. Similiar to EDU251 there is content proferred, as well as ways to comments and connect to other relavent websites. You can explore the site, but liked the definition of elearning: Elearning is the use of any type of technology in improving learning. At it's most basic level, it is email...at it's most advanced, it is an online course (or simulation, or virtual reality, or...well, you get the point)

Oh darn, I have to go to work. I will look at this one too.

I saw this and thought it might be an interesting read.

My friend Chris Lott shared this with me to pair with the reddit illness posting.  Important stuff to know when you're dealing with online communities.

I think it was Barnum and Bailey that said, "...there is a sucker born every minute." However, history disputes this quote and states it was said by a competitor of P.T. Barnum .http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

Mashable Jobs listing and information in social media

Interesting find. I'm not familiar with the site, and they don't have a lot of information about who they are. It seems like they are aggregating video from multiple sources. What I can't tell, is if the sources are submitting the video, or if the site is collecting them from other sites. One interesting thing I've found when I suggest instructors look for online videos, is that they worry about accuracy and quality. To me, this is a great learning opportunity for students. For example, I recommended a welding instructor have his students find welding videos on Youtube so they can critique the safety techniques in the videos. Students are often more interested in finding mistakes in videos, than in receiving a lecture :)

Top ten EdTech masters programs

This is the Elluminate Live! room I've set up for our course. Elluminate Live! is a web-based synchronous tool for online meetings.

Wired article on the Khan Academy

This is the link I shared in the session last night with tools divided by type.

Thank you for posting this, Jennifer! I pasted it into my blog as a resource for reference (but I gave you credit for the list).

Skype is a free chat and calling tool you can download to your computer, or install the app on your smart phone.

Jennifer and Helen... Thanks for the info! I've been thinking about using Skype in the classroom at BC, but there are security concerns from the computer admin folks - and I haven't tried it out yet.

I have become a Skype member and can't wait to use it. I am wondering if Ellminate isn't the superior tool. I guess I will make that judgement when I actually can Skype someone.

I already posted same thing before, but the teacher said the link doesn't work for her. So I post it again. Sorry for the trouble.