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search engine with the specific purpose of bringing results tailored ot education and learning objects. Watch the 40 sec video on the site for more info.

A summary of common learner experiences with MOOCs and Open Online Learning. Compiled using reflective pieces directly from students. Outlines common themes that came out of the research

BCampus is moving forward with open textbooks. This means FREE textbook for students!!!

"Today's classrooms require that instructors possess competencies for teaching all students. Robust instructional strategies and culturally sensitive curricula are critical, but more important is an instructor who is sensitive and responsive to the unique differences of each student. Recognizing the need to strengthen specific competencies to reach and teach all students requires an understanding of new ideas and a willingness to view instruction through varied cultural lenses."

This article raises some great questions - how much "instruction" do we still need to give to students on using things such as the "play" feature etc.? Can we assume they have the skills - or do we need to do a little research to find out what types of instructions that seem obvious to us might not be obvious to them, and vice versa. Food for thought! Connie

You have to read this one - it's a pretty good prank! Happy April Fools

"If you prefer the second theory, then you might consider grades a useful instrument of positive or negative reinforcement, but the only thing that matters is what students actually learn. There is stuff that every adult ought to know, and college is the best delivery system for getting that stuff into people's heads. "

"Teaching This group is the most directly connected to the act of teaching. 1. Grade Book - iPad: Gradekeeper, Android: Grade Book for Professors 2. Annotation - mark up student-submitted PDF files with highlights, text and drawings - iPad: GoodReader or iAnnotate PDF ($$), Android: RepliGo Reader 3. Attendance - some apps even make a seating chart with photos - iPad: Attendance, or Smart Seat, Android: Attendance 4. Course Management System - if your campus has turned on this functionality you can access course content and more - Blackboard Mobile | Learn (both platforms) 5. Polling - use tablets and smartphones like clickers in the classroom - iPad: eClicker ($$), Android: Student Clicker"

I often ask my parents what college - and, therefore, learning - was like before the Internet came to be. Because when I enrolled at Indiana University in 2005, the Internet ran the show. My classes were organized, registered and configured online, and assignments were often distributed in virtual environments.

Introduction: "Across North America and increasingly the world, there is a move within education to adopt a constructivist view of learning and teaching. In part, the argument for this move is a reaction against teacher-centred instruction that has dominated much of education, particularly adult and higher education, for the past forty years or more. While I do not argue with the basic tenets of constructivism, I do resist the rush to adopt any single, dominant view of learning or teaching. Unless we are cautious, I fear we are about to replace one orthodoxy with yet another and promote a 'one size fits all' notion of good teaching."

"The small liberal-arts college in this Pennsylvania town offers students an intimate learning experience. There is one professor for every eight students, each of whom pays about $40,000 for that kind of access. Now the college wants to add courses that are partly online into this setting, and it wants other liberal-arts institutions to follow suit."

"The online Master of Education program in instructional design and technology at my school, West Texas A&M University, has more than doubled its admissions during the last two years, even as similar programs nationwide have struggled. This is because we consistently honor six very simple practices in every course in the program. During my career as a senior instructional designer at Microsoft and Boeing, these practices were universal for online instruction. I have been shocked to learn how many online college courses incorporate none of them. So, with apologies, here we go:"

This week's UBC podcast includes a discussion about the pros and cons of mobiles phones in schools.  As well a link to the Ericsson Mobility Report