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The rapid e-learning blog always has interesting articles. As always, this blog has so many useful resources and articles it boggles of the mind. I've used the Articulate Engage software extensively. Worth the price (and I'm a penny pincher)!

With thousands of customers in more than 75 countries, Articulate is the recognized leader in rapid e-learning software and e-learning authoring tools.

Anything from Articulate is worth looking at. I suspect this will go toe to toe with Jing.

A nice reflection on what is happening to reading with Common Core. I find the overemphasis on literary nonfiction problematic, unless, the fact that math and history are primarily nonfiction allows literature to remain 60-70% fiction, however, for those schools who just have "reading" in literature (that would be sad), this is going to have issues. This is a great read. "The CCSS mandates that by the end of high school, 70% of what students read should be informational texts -- specifically, complex and non-narrative literary nonfiction. Furthermore, students should be able to identify central ideas and articulate their development, summarize, analyze, draw inferences, identify an author's purpose, evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical features, and figure out the meaning of words. In short, the CCSS has reclaimed a technique popular in the 1940s, close reading, or sustained interpretation of, in particular, the wording of a text."

...by creating visuals, I support my own learning and understanding. * Ideas that I am trying to articulate become clearer in my mind * I am able to formulate and recall the connections between thoughts better * The sequence of my train of thought becomes apparent or can be revised better

The Open University's peer reviewed Journal of Open and Distance Learning, Open Learning, has devoted its first issue of 2009 to the theme of Open Educational Resources (OER).The issue provides an introduction to the emerging OER movement and its implications for education systems and institutions, educators and learners. The articles describe a range of initiatives and issues, and articulate the vision of some of the most committed and passionate champions of Open Educational Resources. Together they communicate the energy and dynamism associated with this new movement, and its potential to extend learning opportunities worldwide.

IB Americas has developed a set of backward curriculum maps in order to help high schools increase participation and success in the Diploma Programme by strengthening the articulation between the MYP and Diploma Programme. These maps define some of the skills necessary for success on Diploma assessments, trace these skills back through grade 9 (level four of the MYP), present assessment and scaffolding ideas, and offer examples of MYP units that can help prepare students for the Diploma.

So what is it that we want students to gain from a k-12 science education? What are the goals we should constantly work to promote in students? Considering that rote memorization of scientific ideas leads to little understanding, I have identified ten goals for students that focus on life learning skills, and other traits that will be valuable to them in the future, no matter their career choice. Each goal below is accompanied by more specific explanations of what I might see students doing who meet that goal. I hope whatever your goals are for your students, you have thought about them extensively. We all want great things for our students, but if we do not have well articulated goals, our efforts will not be focused.

What if we asked our students to become the teachers? What if we asked our students to articulate the process of something that they have learned? The SmartBoard hsoftware includes the capability of recording what is happening on the computer screen.

Love the rapid elearning blog. With over 102K subscribers, it is jam packed with great material. This organized blog post has some great information and links to tutorials. "Today I am going to fix that. I have listed every blog post that has a video tutorial that shows how to create something related to online learning. So, if you're just getting started with building online learning courses (or new to the blog), now you have a handy resource with links to all sorts of rapid elearning tutorials."

The literature review unequivocally found that it is not possible to provide a meaningful framework to describe or measure the direct impact of ICT on student learning per se. Most educational researchers view media comparison studies as of little value, misleading, and not generalisable. Where such studies have been conducted it has not been possible to identify a purely ICT effect disentangled from other elements of the learning environment. Most educational researchers would view such disentangling as counterproductive. Further, it has become increasingly difficult to measure student learning as more is understood of the complexities of learning. However, this review has identified significant impacts of the use of ICT on students, learning environments, teachers and pedagogy, schools provision of ICT capacity, and school and system organization, policy and practice. These are presented here as five dimensions

Those are some of the capabilities known as "21st-century skills" - what everyone from CEOs to President-elect Obama says that today's students need for their fast-changing future. In a knowledge economy, the reasoning goes, the ability to articulate and solve problems, to generate original ideas, and to work collaboratively across cultural boundaries is growing exponentially in importance. The challenge for schools is to find ways to shift from traditional rote learning and teach these skills, while still doing due diligence to the three R's. The good news about 21st-century skills, advocates say, is that they can be integrated into core subjects.

The goal of education is to enrich the lives of students while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and lifelong learners, that are socially responsible, resilient, and active citizens of the world.

"We don't need Smart Boards, we need smart people"

Larry Cuban makes a critic about the use of technology in schools

Some great reminders for those designing blended learning courses.