Group items tagged

"After trying out the Apple iPad for a short period--about three weeks--three out of four college freshmen said they'd be willing to purchase an Apple iPad personally if at least half of the textbooks they used during their college career were available digitally, according to the results of a classroom poll at Abilene Christian University. According to Scott Perkins, coordinator of mobile learning research in the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning at the Texas university, a similar willingness to purchase the devices was borne out among participants in semester-long pilots, which included both graduate and undergraduate students."

"Open education builds upon the best traditions of educational innovation and the open source movement. It is a field that foresees remarkable transformations in institutions and teaching and learning at all levels. This course explores innovations in open education from a variety of perspectives. It examines the various dimensions of open education from traditional to contemporary. It explores the micro impacts impacts at the course, curriculum, and program levels as well as the macro impacts, those at the university and national educational policy levels. Finally, the course examines the remarkable transformative potential of open education on individuals and institutions."

"Teaching's primary purpose should be to ensure that every student graduates ready to tinker, create, and take initiative."

What I like about this article is how it discusses using students to help teachers learn technology and its applications for learning.

Teaches you how to replace the calendar in Angel with a google calendar.  When you update your google calendar it updates in Angel.  You can't make updates to the calendar in Angel, it has to be done through Google.  Great if you have multiple sections of the same class--only update once!

Nice find. I used this tool for all my classes and it works great. Now, though, I use that embed code and put the code into a section header in a lessons page. That way it's in the students view the moment the get into the course. Then I hide the calendar tab.

Love this idea! Jeff - do you have a separate google calendar for each course, or do you have one for all your courses? Also, I'm interested in using google blogs (blogger) for journals and would like to embed the codes, just as done for google calendar. Have you heard of anyone doing so? I tried changing a tab to a link for a blog, but am not sure if this is the best way. I did see an article in which the instructor had students create their own blog, then submit the link. The links were then put into a chart put into the course. Any other ideas?

A Model of Learning Objectivesbased on a Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing:A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

An interactive version of Bloom's Taxonomy - good resource.

"I've been hesitant to dive into using Windows Live because I've already become so familiar with GoogleDocs. However, there are good reasons for me to start learning. For one thing, my students and colleagues are, for the most part, already using Microsoft Office in their work, and Windows Live doesn't require them to learn yet another interface. (Yes, I know that GoogleDocs isn't really that different, but I've frequently found that people consider the need to switch interfaces off-putting.)"

Should we be considering using MS Live instead of google docs?

This is from the comments below the article "When I tried this I ran into a problem with it not working cross platform with Mac. This made it useless in an academic environment." We would likely need to do some initial testing to see if it viable to make the switch. If it makes instructors more comfortable then it should be seriously looked at.

"March 1, 2011 Designing Online Courses with Course Updates in Mind By: Patti Shank, PhD, CPT in Online Education Add Comment Online courses are rarely "done." Over time, things change, including the curriculum and content (because of changes in the field and changes to available content) and the technologies (ways that the content can be delivered and tools for interacting with it and with others in the courses, including you). Bottom line: Just like initial course development, updating courses can be quite a lot of work. You can reduce the hassles and work (but not eliminate them) by designing your online courses with updating them in mind. That is, design so that updating is built into the process, not tacked on as an afterthought. Identify change-likely elements"

This article might really help us decide how to keep our courses updated more effectively.

"As many of my colleagues know, I have not been a big fan of Twitter for academic purposes. Why? The impression I had is: * Twitter is tacky. Great if you want to know what Paris Hilton's dog is up to, otherwise: aahhh, no. * Twitter is unfiltered. Too much chaff, no wheat! * Twitter is too open. Students will be encouraged to let loose, to mix topics, to lose the thread that an instructor can maintain in a more tightly controlled discussion forum In the interest of an open mind, lately I have been exploring Twitter a bit, and while I still basically believe the points above, I have found some uses for Twitter that might be helpful."

"This conundrum calls into question one of the most significant contemporary educational movements. Advocates for giving schools a major technological upgrade - which include powerful educators, Silicon Valley titans and White House appointees - say digital devices let students learn at their own pace, teach skills needed in a modern economy and hold the attention of a generation weaned on gadgets. "

I know the tools are out there, but sometimes I feel like I don't have time to find them.  Luckily, Mohamed Kharbach did it for us!  Check out his blog learn about the skills educators should have and use the links to learn or brush up on them. 

What's interesting about this tool is not so much that it is an online learning environment for teachers and their students, but that it can also be used to make connections between teachers.  This could be useful for instructors who may feel isolated at their particular school and a chance to branch out.

Ian - I thought you might enjoy this article