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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

I'm a so-so fan of Skype. I've used it on an infrequent basis and have had more than a few dropped calls. Audio and video alike. However, it's a cheap way to make long distance calls and seems to work better over wi-fi and the video quality is improving on a regular basis. So therefore it's probably a great tool for the classroom. But how can you use Skype to do more than just make calls? Well, there's a pantload of interesting ways! Check out these fun ideas: Collaborate! Meet with other classrooms: One of the most common projects educators utilize Skype for is setting up exchanges with classrooms around the world, usually for cultural exchange purposes or working together on a common assignment. The program's official site provides some great opportunities to meet up with like-minded teachers and students sharing the same goals. Practice a foreign language: Connect with individual learners or classrooms hailing from a different native tongue can use a Skype collaboration to sharpen grammar and pronunciation skills through conversation. Peace One Day: Far beyond classroom collaborations, the Peace One Day initiative teamed up with Skype itself and educators across the globe to teach kids about the importance of ending violence, war, and other social ills. Around the World with 80 Schools: This challenge asks participating schools to hook up with 80 worldwide and report back what all they've learned about other cultures and languages. Talk about the weather: One popular Skype project sees participants from different regions make note of the weather patterns for a specified period of time, with students comparing and contrasting the results. Collaborative poetry: In this assignment, connected classrooms pen poetic pieces together and share them via video conferencing. Practice interviews: The education system frequently receives criticism for its failure to prepare students for the real world, but using Skype to help them run through mock-up

Learning takes place through active engagement rather than passive transmission.

In autumn 2006, Sarah Jones, a part time adult education teacher living in South Wales, attended a part time evening course called 'Developing Self Evaluation Techniques for Adult Learners'. The course was sponsored by the European Commission Grundvig programme funded ASSIPA project and included participants form different European countries. I was one of the participants on the course you can see a short video where the participants introduce themselves. The teacher, Jenny Hughes, asked participants to keep a diary of their work on the course. Sarah decided to use her web log as her diary. The course was videoed and Sarah added the links to the different videos in her web log. She also added links to the handouts from the course.

Bastard Culture!: How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production Mirko Tobias Schafer 0 Resenhas Amsterdam University Press, 15/07/2011 - 249 páginas In the wake of the recent far-reaching changes in the use and accessibility of technology in our society, the average person is far more engaged with digital culture than ever before. They are not merely subject to technological advances but actively use, create, and mold them in everyday routines-connecting with loved ones and strangers through the Internet and smart phones, navigating digital worlds for work and recreation, extracting information from vast networks, and even creating and customizing interfaces to best suit their needs. In this timely work, Mirko Tobias Schäfer delves deep into the realities of user participation, the forms it takes, and the popular discourse around new media. Drawing on extensive research into hacking culture, fan communities, and Web 2.0 applications, Schäfer offers a critical approach to the hype around user participation and exposes the blurred boundaries between industry-driven culture and the domain of the user.

"The Pupil Participation Project in the Welsh Assembly Government is here to help YOU! We want you to have the support you need to make pupil participation really effective in your school. On this site you will find useful information, resources and training materials, contact details, and links to related sites. There are also fun things to do as well, because you've told us this is important to you. If you would like to let us know what your school is doing to make sure that all pupils can play an active role in decision-making, send your case study to: RightsandEntitlementsBranch@Wales.gsi.gov.uk "

This week I joined with teachers, students, researchers and policy writers at Melbourne University to discuss student voice. This conference was hosted by Social Education Victoria and made possible by the conference partners, The University of Melbourne, Education and Training Victoria, Foundation for Young Australians and Connect. Over three days, participants engaged in rigorous dialogue about the significance of student voice and what is required to ensure its benefits are maximised for all.

We are pleased to announce a workshop on 'Finding and Re-using Public Information', co-organised with the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI), the Power of Information (POI) Taskforce and mySociety. Details are as follows: * When: Saturday 1st November 2008, 1030-1600 * Where: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald Street, London, WC1N 3QS. (See map.) * Wiki: http://okfn.org/wiki/PublicInformation * Participation: Attendance is free. If you are planning to come along please add your name to the participants list, or email us (info at the okfn domain).

Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute

This is a subject that deserves some thought. For the most part, online conferences (and online strands of face-to-face) seem to be perceived as (and often subtly created as) alternative to the "real thing" that are inferior but better-than-nothing. Reminds me of the way distance education and online learning (mostly) used to be seen the same way in comparison to their face-to-face counterparts...

This is a subject that deserves some thought. For the most part, online conferences (and online strands of face-to-face) seem to be perceived as (and often subtly created as) alternative to the "real thing" that are inferior but better-than-nothing. Reminds me of the way distance education and online learning (mostly) used to be seen the same way in comparison to their face-to-face counterparts...

the educational Internet platform of the German Hasso Plattner Institute, Potsdam. Starting in September you will be able to take part in our worldwide social learning network based on interactive online courses covering different subjects in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Enter a fascinating world of knowledge with our free open online courses. Meet other participants from around the world and familiarize yourself with fundamental and current topics in ICT, computer science and IT systems engineering.

post from Half an Hour: excellent explanation of how connectivist moocs work, what the difference is between them and x or wrapped moocs and what open is In this presentation Stephen Downes addresses the question of how massive open online courses (MOOCs) will impact the future of distance education. The presentation considers in some detail the nature and purpose of a MOOC in contrast with traditional distance education. He argues that MOOCs represent the resurgence of community-based learning and will describe how distance education institutions will share MOOCs with each other and will supplement online interaction with community-based resources and services. The phenomenon of 'wrapped MOOCs' will be described, and Downes will outline several examples of local support for global MOOCs. 

"The discussion begun which participants talking about what they viewed as disruption. Most people agreed that swinging on chairs, being late and calling out were disruptive to learning (although many felt that the root causes needed to be identified and addressed), but there was genuine disagreement about pupil interaction and banter with some UKEdChatters saying this was an inappropriate distraction, while others said they enjoyed and welcome this, at least to a point."

During training in home tuition seremban, you are expected to participate in school events as well as other teachers.

This is a wonderful Video conferencing site which works across many types of devices. There is no sign up or login required. Just start a room and share the link to invite afters. You can have five video participates at once. You can watch videos together from YouTube and other sites. There is a collaborative notepad, text chat, file sharing and you can even share your screen with other 'room mates.' You can sign in for free to customise rooms and schedule sessions. A great resource for staff meetings, training and distance teaching. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

Top 10 Free Online Tutoring Tools for 2012 Topics: education, free tools, guest, technology, technology for tutoring, tutoring resources, tutoring tools inShare Share 462 The Internet provides a wealth of resources for teachers, tutors, and students to go well beyond classroom learning. Whether you're a teacher preparing for tomorrow's lecture, a professional tutor working with one or two students, or you just want to help your cousin in Alabama with some trig homework, these free tools will help you interact with your student(s) sans the confines of the classroom. Skype with Idroo Idroo is an online educational whiteboard used in combination with Skype. Use it with as many students or fellow teachers as you want for tutoring sessions or meetings, as the whiteboard's "only limitations" are Internet connection speed and how fast everyone involved absorbs the material. All writing and drawing done on the whiteboard is visible to participants in real time, making it a true virtual classroom. It also allows for remote math tutoring with its professional math typing tool. Gchat Anyone with a gmail account can access Gchat. Teachers, tutors, and students can talk to one another in real time, as well as send and receive files instantly. Save chats for referral purposes in your gmail account, or download the Google Talk application for voice conferencing with multiple parties. WizIQ Teachers, students and organizations can create free accounts on WizIQ, another online education portal. Students have the option to attend online classes, download free tutorials, use free practice tests, or find teachers with certain expertise. Online classes are not free, however. Teachers and organizations can offer recorded classes through WizIQ or those in real time, create online tests, use live audio and video chat, and distribute course work in any standard format. Teachers must pay per month for this service, though WizIQ offers easy teacher payment collection from stu

"Users can create both web and virtual Quests for others to participate in. So you could hide a $5 bill in JFK and create a series of complicated tasks that a player has to complete in order to find the money. A sample web-based Quest could involve connecting with a person online, and asking for an answer key."