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Nairobi 2010 Conference Reoprt  Climate Change and Natural Resource Use in Eastern Africa: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation Report of the 3rd Scientific Conference of the Ecological Society for Eastern Africa (ESEA) and co-hosted with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) at Multimedia University College, Nairobi, 19 - 21 May 2010 By Nicholas Oguge, Caroline Lumosi, Teddy Odindo, Joseph Ngondi and Philista Malaki October 4, 2010 Summary While the Earth's climate has changed throughout history, the current warming trend has been of particular concern because most of it is human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented.  One of the greatest concerns of this global warming is climate variability and change.  The risks associated with climate change add to development challenges such as food and water insecurity. Although climate change is only one of the many drivers negatively affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services, it certainly exacerbates the other factors such as land degradation and unsustainable natural resource use. There is general concern on the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources. This would widen poverty levels confronting eastern African countries and threaten gains made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Thus, the Ecological Society for Eastern African organised its 3rd annual scientific conference with a theme addressing this global challenge.  The idea was to bring together researchers, policy makers and the general public together to discuss the climate change phenomena, its impacts, mitigation strategies and adaptation measures with regard to natural resource use in Eastern Africa. In order to address above issues and to reach out to a wider audience, we designed the conference strategically on three tiers:   1. Plenary talks: to provide policy information and direction, science on climate change, ecological and socio-economic effects, how to commun

"Social networking software sites are often mistakenly called learning communities, betraying a significant lack of agreement or concern for what actually constitutes a community. However, social networking sites are being used by teachers to engage students in dynamic ways, and by learners as vehicles for constructing their own, very personal learning environments and communities. This paper draws on lessons we have learned about building personal learning environments and virtual communities from our research and experience in formal and non-formal learning environments. It addresses the key questions of how can we construct, maintain and usher out communities, who joins communities, and what characteristics of communities seem to be shared across learning environments. The paper also questions whether the label "community" is actually a failed metaphor for something that seems to be much too dynamic and elusive to capture with a single construct. "

We all have had many years of experience in learning in face-to-face settings in both classrooms and seminar rooms. Although the face-to-face learning environments are often complex and unpredictable, we are very familiar with them and have developed high levels of skill in working in these environments. We cannot assume, however, that the skills, strategies, and techniques that we so effectively use in face-to-face learning environments will also work well in online learning.

Learning takes place through active engagement rather than passive transmission.

Book Reviews Book title: Digitisation Perspectives Type: book Author: Ruth Rikowski Year: 2010 Edition: 1st ISBN: 9460912982 Publisher: Sense Publishers Publisher's Description: This book examines various views and perspectives on digitisation. As Simon Tanner, Director Digital Consultancy, King's College London says in the Foreword: "Digitisation has become a cultural, scholastic, economic and political imperative and raises many issues for our consideration." Furthermore, that the book: "...seeks to address and answer some of the big questions of digitisation... It succeeds on many levels..." There are 22 contributors in the book, all experts in their fields. The book is divided into six parts: Part 1: 'Background and Overview to Digitisation and Digital Libraries' Part 2: 'Digitisation and Higher Education' Part 3: 'Digitisation and Inequalities' Part 4: 'Digital Libraries, Reference Services and Citation Indexing' Part 5: 'Digitisation of Rare, Valued and Scholarly Works' Part 6: 'Futuristic Developments of Digitisation' Topics covered include electronic theses, search engine technology, digitisation in Africa, citation indexing, reference services, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, new media and scholarly publishing. The final chapter explores virtual libraries, and poses some interesting questions for possible futures. The book will be of particular interest to information professionals, educators, librarians, academics and I.T. and knowledge experts. Ruth Rikowski concludes by indicating that: "...hopefully, the book will provide a source of inspiration for further research, leading to some more effective ways to proceed with the digitisation process. Also, that it will be possible to do this within a framework that can be used for good rather than ill, and for the benefit of many." Reviewer: Eric Jukes (Formerly of College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London) Book Rating: 5/5 Buy this book from Amazon  Review Summary

emystifying the Economics of Virtualization and Cloud Computing Posted by Michael Vizard Mar 15, 2011 11:51:15 AM Make the Financial Case for Virtualization and Cloud Computing With the advent of virtualization and cloud computing, figuring out the actual cost of enterprise computing has never been more important or complicated. Now that every application to one degree or another is eventually going to wind up sharing IT infrastructure with some other set of applications, ascribing costs to each application gets significantly more difficult. In the past, when every application pretty much had its own servers, the costs were clear, except for mainframe and minicomputer environments that were designed from the ground up to run a symmetric multiprocessing environment that supported multiple applications. But now that virtualization and cloud computing are pushing the concept of shared IT infrastructure across the entire spectrum of IT, application owners want to know what their true costs for running these environments actually will be. In addition, the chief financial officer - along with the rest of the board of directors - is demanding a more line-by-line accounting of the allocation of IT resources. Conceptually, most IT leaders should welcome this increased level of scrutiny. It gives them a chance to show how efficient they can be, which represents a significant change of pace after decades of meetings with senior managers that only really wanted to know what the availability of IT services was without much regard to the actual budget. The challenge facing many IT organizations today, says Chris Pick, chief marketing officer for Apptio, a provider of IT financial management tools that are available as a service, is they just don't have the tools needed to delve into all the financial elements of the overall IT equation. For example, a new survey of 100 CIOs in the U.S. that was conducted by the market research firm Worldwide Executive Council on behal

Benefits of Synchronous and Asynchronous e-Learning Advantages Of Using Both Synchronous and Asynchronous Technologies In An Online Learning Environment. Online learning environments are becoming more frequent in teaching and learning than ever before (Bonk & Zhang, 2006; Er, Özden, & Arifoglu, 2009; Skylar, 2009). Synchronous and asynchronous learning technologies are the two most common online learning types (Hrastinski, 2008; Er et al., 2009; Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012). The purpose of this article is to discuss the advantages of using both synchronous and asynchronous technologies in an online learning environment. http://elearningindustry.com/benefits-of-synchronous-and-asynchronous-e-learning #elearning #Synchronous #asynchronous #learning #onlinelearning #distancelearning

The 5th Plymouth e-Learning Conference will examine the theme of e-learning in a time of change, and will challenge notions of traditional boundaries, learning spaces and roles. We will focus on new practices, new technologies, new environments and new learning. There will be primary, secondary and tertiary education threads. We invite papers on the digital divide, e-learning methods and case studies, mobile and pervasive technologies, digital games, multi-user virtual environments, informal learning, new classroom technologies (PDAs interactive whiteboards, etc), personal learning environments, visual media (videoconference, digital photography), e-portfolios and social software (wikis, blogs, podcasting, etc).

"One of the most common criticisms leveled at teachers who do attempt to integrate technology into their classroom environment, is that this often results in a lot of 'faffing around' or time wasted while struggling to get the technology to work properly. To some extent I feel that this criticism is fair, but I don't think it's a criticism that should be leveled at teachers, but would be better directed at the people who control the way technology is layered onto the classroom environment, so lets look at that."

ne of the most common criticisms leveled at teachers who do attempt to integrate technology into their classroom environment, is that this often results in a lot of 'faffing around' or time wasted while struggling to get the technology to work properly. To some extent I feel that this criticism is fair, but I don't think it's a criticism that should be leveled at teachers, but would be better directed at the people who control the way technology is layered onto the classroom environment, so lets look at that.

Quickclass, virtual learning environment for film schools to teach filmmaking. Purpose-built platform for private, flipped, goal-orientated learning.

Quickclass, virtual learning environment for film schools to teach filmmaking. Purpose-built platform for private, flipped, goal-orientated learning.

Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds: Strategies for Online Instruction Clark Aldrich 1 Resenha John Wiley & Sons, 02/10/2009 - 144 páginas Jossey-Bass Guides to Online Teaching and Learning Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds Strategies for Online Instruction Clark Aldrich Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds The infusion of games, simulations, and virtual worlds into online learning can be a transforming experience for both the instructor and the student. This practical guide, written by education game expert Clark Aldrich, shows faculty members and instructional designers how to identify opportunities for building games, simulations, and virtual environments into the curriculum; how to successfully incorporate these interactive environments to enhance student learning; and how to measure the learning outcomes. It also discusses how to build institutional support for using and financing more complex simulations. The book includes frameworks, tips, case studies and other real examples, and resources. Praise for Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds "Clark Aldrich provides powerful insights into the dynamic arena of games, simulations, and virtual worlds in a simultaneously entertaining and serious manner as only he can. If you are involved with educating anyone, from your own children to classrooms full of students, you need to devour this book." -- Karl Kapp, assistant director, Institute for Interactive Technologies, Bloomsburg University "At a time when the technologies for e-learning are evolving faster than most people can follow, Aldrich successfully bridges the perceptual gap between virtual worlds, digital games, and educational simulations, and provides educators with all they really need to use this technology to enhance and enrich their e-learning experiences." -- Katrin Becker, instructor, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Mount R

Learning takes place in formal classroom settings and in informal environments where opportunities to learn are sometimes episodic, occasional and even accidental. They can come in a museum, a park, a zoo, on television, in computer games, or through a cell phone. We explore these environments to find new ideas that will engage children in very active ways and create an opportune moment to learn something new.

Behaviorism, 4cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning 1theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. 1Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying social environments. Vaill emphasizes that "learning must be a way of being - an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast o the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events…" (1996, p.42).

Chris Dede's fundamental interest is the expanded human capabilities for knowledge creation, sharing, and mastery that emerging technologies enable. His teaching models the use of information technology to distribute and orchestrate learning across space, time, and multiple interactive media. His research spans emerging technologies for learning, infusing technology into large-scale educational improvement initiatives, policy formulation and analysis, and leadership in educational innovation. He is currently conducting funded studies to develop and assess learning environments based on modeling and visualization, online teacher professional development, wireless mobile devices for ubiquitous computing, and multiuser virtual environments. Dede also is active in policy initiatives, including creating a widely used State Policy Framework for Assessing Educational Technology Implementation and studying the potential of developing a scalability index for educational innovations. From 2001 to 2004, he served as chair of the Learning & Teaching area at HGSE.

A 7th grade student gives a tour of her personal learning environment. This project was conducted as part of dissertation research implementing the use of networked learning and construction of personal learning environments in a 7th grade life science class.

A well made presentation about energy and the environment, with animated diagrams and lots of child-friendly information. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/PSHE%2C+RE%2C+Citizenship%2C+Geography+%26+Environmental

Here's the step by step guide for Data Science Interview Process The Interview process begins directly from the point you begin investigating the various job positions that allure you. Furthermore, it goes up to the stage of in-person (face to face) interviews. Remember that this is a crucial interview procedure. You probably won't need to experience every single step in your interview procedure. Comprehend and follow the Different Roles, Skills and Interviews Update your Resume and Start Applying! Telephonic Screening Clearing the Assignments In-Person Interaction(s) Post-Interview Steps The above-mentioned steps will be helpful all through your Interview preparation! Know about different Roles, Skills and Interviews in Data Science The main thing you need to comprehend is that there are many jobs in the data science environment. An average data science project has a life cycle. A data scientist is just one part of an effective data science project. Let's check out a quick run-through of different data Scientist job roles. Data Scientist Business Analyst Data Analyst Data Visualizer Analyst Data Science Manager Data Architect AI Engineer PC Vision Engineer You need to have great correspondence and critical thinking skills. You need not know Python and technicals skills. A data architect will probably be tested on his/her programming skills. Get prepared as per the company's expectations. Prepare for the interviews- Create your Digital presence Over 80% of employers we addressed revealed that they check an applicant's LinkedIn profile. Recruiters need to crosscheck and assure the claims made in the resume are genuine or not. You ought to have a LinkedIn profile. It ought to be updated and enhanced by the role(s) you're applying for. Make a GitHub account. Writing computer programs is a crucial task in the data science job role. Transferring your code and ventures to GitHub helps the recruiters see your work directly. Regularly

If you want to know where to get started with Film learning with Educators and young people, start with Quickclass. It's emerged as one of the front-running virtual Film learning environments.

If you want to know where to get started with Film learning with Educators and young people, start with Quickclass. It's emerged as one of the front-running virtual Film learning environments.

An interesting and shocking site which shows live statistics for world population, economics, the environment, and many more. Useful resource for sparking debates. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/PSHE%2C+RE%2C+Citizenship%2C+Geography+%26+Environmental