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This special report features a series of columns by Dr. Lawrence C. Ragan, Director of Instructional Design and Development for Penn State's World Campus, and will help you establish online instructor best practices and performance expectations. The following snippets are just a taste of the insider's advice found in the full report: Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #1 Show Up and Teach - The necessity of this statement is borne of the misimpression that the online class "teaches itself." Since most of the course is already authored and designed for online delivery, instructors may believe they simply need to serve as the proverbial "guide on the side" as the students navigate the learning system. Not true! Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #2 Practice Proactive Course Management Strategies - The online instructor can help create a successful learning experience by practicing proactive course management strategies such as monitoring assignment submissions, and communicating and reminding students of missed and/or upcoming deadlines. Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #3 Establish Patterns of Course Activities - Although the online classroom environment provides tremendous flexibility of time and place of study, establishing and communicating a course pace and pattern of work can aid both instructor and student, and alleviate confusion around how the course operates. Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #4 Plan for the Unplanned - For those small or not-so-small occasions when "life happens," having a strategy for informing students of these changes can go a long way to maintaining course continuity. Principles of Effective Online Teaching: #5 Response Requested and Expected - Timely instructor feedback is essential for the online learner to manage their learning experience. Instructors are expected to respond to student inquiries within one business day.

"Reports continue to be disseminated about how young people are using technology. These devices, tools, and strategies can be integrated into existing lessons to enhance the learning activities and create more engagement, excitement, and possibly some passion among the students."

"Special education addresses the individual differences and requirements of students with special educational needs. As a teacher or trainer, working with students with special educational needs requires specific skills and strategies to create and deliver effective programs of work for them. This free online education course serves as an introduction to the field of special education. The course begins by outlining core elements of special education, including the change in educational legalisation in recent years with particular emphasis on legislation in America. The responsibilities of teachers and trainers are also detailed, along with the individual educational plan (IEP). The course describes the most frequent disabilities encountered in the mainstream classroom: learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), intellectual disabilities, behavioural disorders, and physical disabilities and sensory impairments. The course provides key information about each of these disabilities and describes practical strategies on how to assist and teach students with these disabilities. This free online education course will be of great interest to professionals in the education sector who would like a greater knowledge and understanding of working with students with special educational needs, and to all students who are interested in special education."

Google has launched a new site called Search Education aimed at educators who want to teach online search strategies. The site includes lesson plans geared at different levels of expertise - beginner, intermediate and advanced- as well as training videos that walk through different strategies for subjects like using Creative Commons and Google maps.

 "I've provided a primer on note-taking strategies, many of which I personally used during my academic career. A lot of this is fairly basic stuff-there are no "secrets" to note-taking success. But hopefully a few of these tips will help you start taking notes more effectively."

The purpose of this webquest is to challenge you to develop a 3 year Policy and Vision Strategy for ICT Use in Teacher Professional Development in your country.

Most people use Google for searching for information. This session will teach you all of the tools for finding information quickly and more efficiently. Unlock the secrets of Google Search.

For teachers and trainers to fulfil their instructional role most effectively, their teaching methods must be grounded in educational learning theory. Understanding the learning process is a key element of educational learning theory and provides a framework for teachers and trainers to plan, create and deliver effective lessons, and assess each student's learning. In this free online education course, you will be introduced to the learning process. The course begins by differentiating between teaching and learning, and by describing teachers' and trainers' perspectives on learning. The course provides details about two major learning theories: behaviourism and constructivism. Within the section on Behaviourism, operant conditioning and its implications for teaching are examined in detail. The section on Constructivism compares and contrasts two subtypes of constructivism: psychological constructivism and social constructivism. Finally, the implications of constructivism for teaching are discussed using two practical strategies. This free online education course will be of great interest to professionals in the education sector who would like a greater knowledge and understanding of the learning process that will enhance their teaching and training, and to all students who are interested in the process of how we learn. Introduction to the Learning Process for Teachers and Trainers is originally from and published by Global Text Project and has a duration of 2-3 Hours for the average learner.

This guide examines the use of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) models in schools. It looks at the potential opportunities and benefits, as well as the considerations, risks and implications that arise when schools allow students and staff to use personally owned devicesin the classroom and school environments. Strategies,tips and techniques are included to address the considerations and manage the risks. The guide is NOT a step-by-step manual for implementing  models that enable students to use personally owned devices in school. While teachers, parents, community members and other stakeholders may find the guide informative, it is written with school and school authority administrators and leadership teams in mind. It is meant to inform their decision making and strategic planning should they decide to support a BYOD model in their schools.

This course is designed for teachers and administrators interested in the flipped classroom model. The course has two main components: WHY flip your classroom and HOW to flip your classroom. Why Flip? Participants will get a glimpse into the what and why of the flipped classroom beginning with an iBook. This iBook will provide readers with the history, background, research, and examples of flipped classrooms through interactive texts, keynotes, and videos. This text is the preface to the second portion of the course addressing how to flip the classroom. How to Flip Once participants understand the WHY, this self-paced course will provide specific support for the skill acquisition needed for successful implementation of a flipped classroom model. Tutorials, strategies, resources and examples will provide the materials needed to create accessible videos, implement instruction and assess student success.

"The Practical Ed Tech Handbook isn't just a list of my favorite resources. I've included ideas for using these resources and in many cases I've included links to video tutorials about my favorite resources. In The Practical Ed Tech Handbook you will find resources arranged in seven categories; communication with students & parents, web search strategies, digital citizenship, video creation, audio production, backchannels & informal assessment, and digital portfolios."

Use the Research Guide for step-by-step research help including suggested resources, search strategies, help using databases & the catalog, tips for analyzing resources, and links to citation resources.

TES Teaching Resources is where teachers share and download free lesson plans, classroom resources, revision guides and curriculum worksheets. Whether you are looking for SEN teaching strategies and approaches, VCOP activities, or secondary classroom activities, you can choose from 1000s of teacher resources, download them for free and adapt them to suit your classroom activities.

What are some of the key requirements for successfully integrating technology in your classroom? Not surprisingly, one requirement is adequate and effective professional development.

The conference will be of interest to educators, administrators, students, and community members who value the importance of integrating technology into the curriculum to improve instruction, learning, and business. Online learning involves various skills on the part of the instructor and learner. These include social and communication skills, social networking, independent learning strategies, critical and higher order thinking skills, creativity, and effective online and face-to-face facilitation. In addition, there are many challenges that educators, administrators, students, businesses, and community members face. The theme of the conference is, connecting online for instruction and learning that goes beyond the classroom. Presenters from around the globe will discuss the following topics: Connecting online to improve instruction and learning: Online learning and pedagogical/instructional experiences Experiences with the use of technology in face-to-face and online classes. What worked and what didn't work for you? How do you use technology to promote your online workshops, consultation, business, and communities? Research conducted on e-learning Books written on e-learning 21st Century learning and teaching Challenges of the 21st Century learning/teaching environment Leading a business with e-learning technology

"Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom."