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on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

This is a Universal Design for Learning project built by CAST, a nonprofit R&D organization that uses Universal Design for Learning as a tool to improve learning opportunities for all individuals, including those with disabilities (originally Center for Applied Special Technology). See the Featured Tools on the home page for some interesting "highly supported" digital tools.

Contents of eLearning Papers No 27, published by elearingeuropa.info December 2011. This collection of 6 papers (plus an editorial) focus primarily on how technology has (or has not) impacted learning design. Full text of all articles is available here, along with a PDF of the print version.

Familiar terms in some of the article titles, including patterns, students as learning designers, invitational online learning environments, and "blended collaborative construction participation."

"Abstract The use of design patterns is now well established as an approach within the field of software systems as well as within the field of architecture. An initial effort was made to harness patterns as a tool for elaborating the design of the elements of personal learning environments as part of the University of Bolton's Personal Learning Environment project; however, this earlier effort had a number of limitations that prompted a revisit to the pattern language documented here. In particular, the initial patterns, while functionally useful, lacked some of the moral and generative qualities that are the essential qualities of an effective pattern language. This paper presents a revised pattern language focused around two primary categories, learning networks, and personal learning tools."

on A Blended Maricopa, blended learning in Maricopa. Blended by Design is a 9-hour hands-on "learnshop" for preparing faculty members to teach hybrid/blended courses.

Videos of the Learning Design Support Environment and the Online Pedagogical Pattern Data Collector on Vimeo

Created by the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges, 2008. According to the History page, "The Transition Mathematics Project (TMP) is designed to reverse this trend by helping students successfully progress from high school math to college-level math. With the participation of high school and college math educators, TMP has identified the math skills and knowledge high school graduates need to complete college-level work...."

Editorial from The New York Times, February 18 2013. This editorial points out the pitfalls of online college, identifying student attrition rates (in online courses) and the extra attention that "struggling" students need. The Times advocates for hybrid courses, as well as improving course design for any courses that are delivered 100% online.

Part of the University of Georgia's College of Education Initiative on Innovation in Teaching and Technology (ITT), this page links to presentations in the Innovation 20/20 series. Each topic is a 20 minute presentation on a specific innovation, followed by a 20 minute discussion period. Topics range from more reflective teaching (e.g. Using Metaphor to Explore Teaching and Learning) to using specific tools or strategies (Designing and Implementing an Undergraduate Blogging Community in EDIT 2000 or Motivating Students with Google Tools and More). Navigation on this page also points users to Innovation Resources, Innovation News, and the Discovery Series (another set of online videos).

WHEN a college textbook, "Principles of Biology," comes out from the Nature Publishing Group in January, one place it won't be is on the shelves of school bookstores. Enlarge This Image An interactive graphic in "Principles of Biology," an electronic textbook from Nature Publishing, teaches students about the symptoms of a stroke. Enlarge This Image An interactive graphic from Wolfram Research lets readers change the display parameters of an oil spill. That's because the book was designed to be digital-only. Students will pay not for a printed edition at a bookstore, but for permanent access on the Internet ($49).

Website run by Skip Downing, author of On Course: Strategies for Success in College and in Life. The site provides practical applications of the On Course principles (free of charge). Strategies are designed with the goal of empowering students to become active, responsible learners. There are links to descriptions of workshops and to registration options.

KG took the On Course course and says "Skip's program changed my life and the way I deal with my students...."

By Grant P. Wiggins. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, 1998.

By Ian Quillen of the Digital Education (blog) in Education Week, September 2 2010. This study suggests that "Algebra I teachers who were trained in and used a program that allowed them to monitor students' progress on graphing calculators led to significantly improved achievement by their students on a researcher-designed test." This blog post (and the video link) both stress that it is the combination of technology AND professional development that has provided these positive results. \nNOTE: First link to Summary of Findings is a Texas Instruments report (TI produces the graphing calculator that is part of the study). However, the study was conducted with outside consultants, including SRI.

Posted by Rick Davies to Monitoring and Evaluation NEWS (blog). No date, but note that this is updated from a May 2007 version published on another of Davies' blogs. From abstract, "Evolving storylines is a participatory method of developing multiple alternative views of the future, or interpretations of the past, in the form of branching stories." Davies describes the process, where each participant is both creating and evaluating the work of his/her peers.

Quest2Learn, a project of the Institute of Play, is a 6th-12th grade school designed around games and learning.

Published in Spectrum > Mobile Learning, Libraries, And Technologies, March 12, 2009. "MLE-Moodle is an out-of-the-box mobile Learning (mLearning) system, designed for mobile phones." With MCNC in particular, we've discussed how it might be helpful to be able to engage students/faculty/administrators in Polilogue via mobile phone in addition to computer.

iRubric is a tool that helps faculty design rubrics for assessment. This tool is part of the Rcampus suite of opensource tools.

Description of the VALUE Rubrics, designed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).

By Anthony S. Bryk in Phi Delta Kappan April 2009, vol 90 (8), pp. 597-600. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation, argues for a "Design, Educational Engineering, and Development infrastructure...." Abstract available on this page. Full text by subscription. Check with your local library; they might be able to obtain it for you through interlibrary loan.

in Design section of GOOD. December 23, 2010

R.A. says that "these visual displays of information are great for class discussions."