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Experts say sites like Postyourtest.com could change the way professors assemble their tests, aware that previous versions of their questions might be available in cyberspace.

Article about how people look at web pages.

As you design web pages for use with your students -- do you wonder why they don't sometimes SEE what you're putting in front of them -- it is because of eye movement. It is design!!! This paper writes about the effect of website design on eye movement. Those who are desigining online curriculum need to understand this. My sister, Sarah, has been an onlien professor for Savannah College of Art and Design for a while, ,and this is something she talks about in her courses and shares with me. This is why I emphasize wiki layout and design w/ my students (like having a table of contents and white space.) If it is not attractive, it just doesn't exist, because it IS NOT READ! Educators will do well to remember that!

Building a PLN has just gotten easier.

Organizations are starting to get things together to create widgets to help academicians, authors, and others to build a very powerful PLN (personal learning network) with their igoogle or netvibes. They seem to prefer Netvibes for a couple of reasons - and I maintain an account on both, although I startup on igoogle. There are Bespoke repository service widgets and repository information widgets. They even have a page to see what these widgets do (also in this post.) Every modern student (and professor and teacher) should understand how to build a PLN.

Cool blog from a professor in Norway who is following mathematics education research

Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings. The taxonomy provides a useful structure in which to categorize test questions, since professors will characteristically ask questions within particular levels, and if you can determine the levels of questions that will appear on your exams, you will be able to study using appropriate strategies.

If the message in this video resonates with you feel free to send it to any teachers, principals, professors, university presidents, boards of regents, boards of education, etc. you think should see it.

"July 31, 2011 By David Glenn Cambridge, Mass. This past April in Switzerland, Lawrence Lessig gave an impassioned lecture denouncing publishers' paywalls, which charge fees to read scholarly research, thus blocking most people from access. It was a familiar theme for Mr. Lessig, a professor at Harvard Law School who is one of the world's most outspoken critics of intellectual-property laws. But in this speech he gave special attention to JSTOR, a not-for-profit journal archive. He cited a tweet from a scholar who called JSTOR "morally offensive" for charging $20 for a six-page 1932 article from the California Historical Society Quarterly. The JSTOR archive is not usually cast as a leading villain by open-access advocates. But Mr. Lessig surely knew in April something that his Swiss audience did not: Aaron Swartz-a friend and former Harvard colleague of Mr. Lessig's-was under investigation for misappropriating more than 4.8 million scholarly papers and other files from JSTOR. On July 19, exactly three months after Mr. Lessig's speech, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging that Mr. Swartz had abused computer networks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and disrupted JSTOR's servers. If convicted on all counts, Mr. Swartz faces up to 35 years in prison."

by spk7 - Aug. 19, 2011 "Some time ago, Head of the School of Engineering, Professor John Fothergill, with the help of son Henry, produced a very engaging and funny video focusing on his experiences of moving some of his teaching online. In order that his course could still run while he was on sabbatical, John worked closely with Beyond Distance in order to achieve the best online experience for his students. The video draws upon a number of comic influences, most notably Monty Python. We hope you enjoy it!"

Type in a search term and your results come back coded by readability level The name "Twurdy" comes from a play on words with the question "Too Wordy?". The philosophy Everyone has different reading abilities. Some people searching the web are university professors and others are 5 year old children. Twurdy has been created to provide people with access to search results that suit their own readability level. What does it do? Twurdy uses text analysis software to "read" each page before it is displayed in the results. Then Twurdy gives each page a readability level. Twurdy then shows the readability level of the page along with a color coded system to help users determine how easy the page will be to understand.

Excellent article written by NYC professors discussing which programming language should be taught first in CS majors.

Professor Daniel Willingham describes research showing that learning styles are a myth

That was a really interesting video. Good information to have.

Derek Bruff, assistant director of Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching, has written a book that reviews the uses of clickers and offers advice for institutions and professors. The book -- Teaching With Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments -- is just out from Jossey-Bass. Bruff responded to e-mail questions about the themes of the book.

Excellent article from Scholastic Administrator Magazine that pulls from a wide variety of sources including Peggy Sheehy, Jim Gates, several college professors, and current research. (oh, and yes, I have a little in there also.) This is a good one to facilitate discussions about reaching today's students as it is backed up by a variety of sources.

Educators find themselves with mixed opinions about the role of social media in higher education and its importance in the classroom. Some see it as the technology of tomorrow, an important piece to the puzzle of connecting with students, while others try it doubtingly in their classrooms, assuming that the traditional face-to-face contact cannot be replaced.

Pulitzer-prize winning professor Jonathan Weiner, author of "Beak of the Finch", among other books will deliver the second lecture in our 150th anniversary "Origin of Species" series. Attendees should read chapters 1 and 2 on variation in Darwin's great book.

UT Dallas History Professor Dr. Monica Rankin wanted to know how she could reach and include more students in the class discussion. She had heard of Twitter.The following is a short video describing her "Twitter Experiment" in the classroom with comments from students about the pros and cons of Twitter in a traditional learning environment.

" The customized interface creates a one-to-one learning environment with the professor while emphasizing graphical explanations and working through solution steps. Below each lecture video are detailed notes which highlight the most important points to remember as well as common student pitfalls. A powerful search engine also locates the exact time in a lecture your problem topic is discussed. Lastly, student comments are moderated by our instructors make sure any questions you have are answered."