EET Learns

Interesting information on students' perceptions.

Instructional Design Resources

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?

"Blackboard is buying out two major players in the open source services space: Moodlerooms and NetSpot. Blackboard has also brought onboard Sakai Project founding architect Charles Severance. With these additions, the company is also launching its own open source division: Blackboard Education Open Source Services. Moving into Open Source Services Teams from both Moodlerooms and NetSpot will make up Blackboard's new open source group. Both of those companies provide commercial services for institutions that use Moodle, including support, consulting, installation, and hosting services."

"Educational video are possbily one of the most effective learning tools, and honestly, even most grown-ups will find them enriching and entertaining. But what if the only video resource you use is YouTube and you can not access it in your school or classroom. Are there any alternatives ? Yes there are more eighty alternatives to YouTube that you can use with your students. These video resources are among the best online. We have spent so much reviwing every single one and therefore we confirm their suitablity to education."

Academics have long talked of the "academic conversation." Now, Web 2.0 has called our bluff. We live in the midst of a non-stop world conversation. But, are conversational skills (in writing) important and, if so, how do we teach them?

What an excellent tool for vocabulary development and improving writing style. It would also be very useful for ESL students

"Many presenters, particularly novices, struggle to find a presentation style that works best for them. Luckily, throughout the years, after much trial and error, many successful techniques and methodologies for presentation creation and delivery have emerged, giving speakers a variety of existing approaches to "borrow" from. From top left: Lawrence Lessig, Masayoshi Takahashi, Seth Godin, Mino Monta Here, we'll describe and evaluate some of the most famous - and popular - presentation methods."

"In this interview Blackboard Learn President Ray Henderson and Moodlerooms Chairman and CEO Lou Pugliese explain why Blackboard is getting into the open source business, what's different about delivering services to those customers versus Blackboard's traditional customers, and what might be next on the open source agenda for the No. 1 learning management system company in the world."

Process directives:   1. Design through action        2. Design with (people), not for (clients) - design comes from within   3. Design systems, not stuff - not about making change but creating the conditions in which change is possible and the incentive to want to make change.   4. Document, share, measure   5. Start locally, scale globally   6. Build

action item infographic

Thought you might enjoy the reference to Vygotsky!

"Altimeter's research examined companies considered to be advanced in social business and their preparations for or ability to avoid a social media crisis. Given the accelerated us of social media on campus within core services, meaning higher education's adoption of a social media business model, the possibility of a social media crisis arising is something that should be expected and planned for."

"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.

"For a stranger, the main library at the University of Illinois at Chicago can be hard to find. The directions I got from a pair of clerks at the credit union in the student center have proven unreliable. I now find myself adrift among ash trees and drab geometric buildings. Finally, I call for help. Firouzeh Logan, a reference librarian here, soon appears and guides me where I need to go. Several unmarked pathways and an escalator ride later, I am in a private room on the second floor of the library, surrounded by librarians eager to answer my questions."

Great find.

"Social networking tools aren't going away any time soon, they appear to be here for the long term. But do these kinds of applications really belong in the classroom? I think they do, and here's a few reasons why:"

Some studies reveal deep doubts among students and faculty that distance learning ever can have the degree of interaction in a non-distance environment. Horn (1994) and Hirumi and Bermudez (1996) are among those who find that, with proper instructional design, distance courses actually can be more interactive than traditional ones, providing more personal and timely feedback to meet students' needs than is possible in large, face-to-face courses.