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New Online Partnership Brings the Library Deeper Into the Digital Age. (Description from Emerging Ed Tech, 10/1/13) The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) officially opened to the public on April 19, 2013. Though still in its infancy, the DPLA is a mightily ambitious undertaking that strives to give free access to the best of America's libraries, museums and archives. Launched with the support of multiple partners such as the Smithsonian, the New York Public Library, the National Archives, and an array of highly respected institutions of learning including Harvard, the DPLA opened with more than two million items on display. According to executive director Dan Cohen in an article featured online by the Huffington Post, this is just the beginning, and the public can expect "tens of millions (of additional resources) to come in the years ahead."

"The Department of Justice's revised regulations for Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) were published in the Federal Register on September 15, 2010. cover of Justice Department's 2010 ADA StandardsThe Department has assembled this official online version of the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards) to bring together the information in one easy-to-access location. It provides the scoping and technical requirements for new construction and alterations resulting from the adoption of revised 2010 Standards in the final rules for Title II (28 CFR part 35) and Title III (28 CFR part 36). "

Last month, without warning, Facebook and Twitter killed-off access to RSS feeds. With the launch of the new Twitter interface, you could only access RSS feeds on Twitter if you were logged out of your account. Now, it seems you can't access them at all. To access the RSS feed of any user, use the following link: http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name={USERNAME} So for example, if you want to access the RSS feed of The Next Web's Twitter account, you would use the following link: http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=thenextweb

Case study of a School who used Google Hangouts for teacher observations. Summary of "pros" follows: "Maynard, the observing teacher in whose class Grubb worked, believes Google+ Hangouts offers a lot of potential for student teachers. "They could sit down with professors and supervising teachers and analyze lessons much easier," she says. "I like how multiple people can be invited as well. In the past there has been just one professor from the university sitting in the classroom observing." With Hangouts, multiple people could participate in the observation--including other student teachers. Plus, she added, the recordings could be useful for new teachers; they could simply take it to a job interview and share it. "That could be a huge part of interviews in the future.""

"The phrase "Death by PowerPoint" has become increasingly popular. Most people have experienced Death by PowerPoint at some point while attending meetings, conferences, or seminars. The irony is that PowerPoint, which is supposed to make presentations more powerful and effective, can also be a weapon of mass destruction. This white paper documents the symptoms of Death by PowerPoint, and, more importantly, details the cures. There is no one cure, but rather many techniques. The good news is that the techniques are simple; you just need to implement them."

SymbalooEDU is FREE! Symbaloo is a simple start page that allows you to store and share all of your favorite bookmarks and resources visually. Organize websites, Google Docs, videos, lesson plans, and more! Create a free account and store your bookmarks in the cloud. Your resources will be available to you on any internet-connected device, from anywhere in the world! The Advantages of SymbalooEDU Save time by eliminating the need to type in web addresses Avoid typos in web addresses Use the Symbaloo Bookmarker to save your favorite sites with a single click! Share your page with colleagues, students, and friends Access Symbaloo on-the-go from your smartphone or tablet! No ads!

Have you ever needed or wanted to create an online course but did not know where to start? If so, you are not alone (and in this article, the marketing experts at Dynamic Search will show you how easy it is using Versal.com!). Versal provides a free service that allows you to completely design and create an online course without ever having to worry about trying to code. Many people are still hesitant, however, because they fear that using the program will prove to be just as difficult as coding and as a result have a hard time figuring out how to use it. This could not be further from the truth. Versal is easy to use and easy to navigate, and they take all of the guess-work out of creating a course - all you have to do is have the knowledge that needs to go into the course and how to set-up a lesson plan.

ZebraZapps has partnered with the eLearning Brothers to produce high quality photographic character packs available in the Gadget Shopp. Conveniently integrated in the ZebraZapps cloud, these new character packs help authors instantly connect with their audience. Starting at just $3.50 you can choose from several multi-pose sets of unique characters. There's no need to search for and download art online, as the character packs live in the cloud with your account and can be used in every project.

Applications for Education With Wideo's new voiceover tool you could really have your students creating explanatory videos in the Common Craft style. The art of Common Craft videos is the way in which confusing topics are boiled down to a concise explanation. If your students can do the same with a topic in your class, they can prove that they know the material.

"ePortfolios Never Went Away-They Just Became Standard Practice " ePortfolios are still a key component to getting into the schools you want and getting hired for the jobs you desire. In fact, it's safe to say that they matter just as much now as they ever did, if not more. The reason we've stopped seeing as many articles about ePortfolios is because they've approached standard practice in the education and employment fields. It's taken for granted that today's students will know how to create one by the time they complete their college degrees and seek new employment opportunities, if they didn't already create one as they prepared to apply to colleges."

From NTEN-This is a subscription-based online infographic creation tool that provides users with the ability to create and publish a variety of different infographics. The site currently offers five templates to use as a starting point, or you can create your own from a blank page. While there are a number of options for customization, there are fewer backgrounds than Easel.ly. Venngage does provide the ability to choose from a variety of chart types, and you can upload data as a CSV to create charts. The finished product can be embedded on a blog or website, downloaded as an image, or accessible online. The company provides a variety of pricing plans, along with a 14-day free trial for new users.

Tableau is desktop-based data visualization software used by many large companies and media properties to create sophisticated visual representations of large datasets. They have now released Tableau Public, a free web-based tool that allows users to create and share interactive charts. The catch is that there is no ability to create private visualizations - all data that you upload to the Tableau Public site is publicly accessible to anyone on the web, and anyone can download the workbook (and underlying data) that you are displaying. The site has active forums, and is full of helpful information for people trying to get a handle on data visualization best practices.

"The Center for Academic Technology is a university resource center with the focus on supporting faculty in the effective use of technology in the classroom. The Center is faculty-driven in a setting that is sensitive to all technology comfort levels. We partner with faculty to seek out and integrate appropriate technologies. Acting on suggestions from faculty, we have outfitted the center with a variety of software, equipment, and training resources. The greatest of these resources are the Academic Technology Specialists who provide expertise and leadership and are committed to supporting and promoting all academic departments in the use of technologies for teaching and learning at Regis University."

There are methods and models for implementing blended learning -- from the flipped classroom, to the flex model. All of them are on the continuum of just how much time is spent online and in the online classroom. Blended Learning can provide a unique way of not only engaging students in collaborative work and projects, but also personalizing and individualizing instruction for students.

"XTOL designs learn-by-doing experiential masters programs in partnership with degree-granting universities around the world. Our programs combine the Socratic teaching method with simulations of real-world on-the-job experiences to teach students the skills they need to land competitive jobs in their chosen field."

The library research tutorials have been updated, and the revised versions are available on the new library web site. Each tutorial can be accessed from MediaSpace/Kaltura. They are listed under the Dayton Memorial Library collection/channel. (From Paul Betty-8/31/13)

Oyster offers unlimited access to over 100,000 books for $9.95 a month, with new titles added all the time. We are currently rolling out invitations for iPhone and iPod Touch. We created Oyster to evolve the way people read and to create more of the special moments that only books can offer. From anywhere a mobile device can go-a bustling subway car, a quiet coffee shop, or lost at sea with a Bengal tiger-our mission is to build the best reading experience, one that is both communal and personal, anytime, anywhere. Learn more about how Oyster is pioneering a better way to read on our blog or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

University of Victoria Counseling Services provides an excellent overview of Bloom's Taxonomy written from the student's perspective that provides a list of demonstrated skills and question cues for each level. The site suggests that students who know more about the types of questions that are likely to be asked can better prepare for exams.

"This tutorial is intended for CPS instructional designers, content authors, and anyone else who needs information on how to construct instructional rubrics. The tutorial is divided into three parts, to answer three basic questions: What exactly is a rubric? Why do we in CPS use rubrics to grade assignments? How do content authors and instructional designers build a rubric for a specific assignment? At the end of this tutorial is advice on how to grade with rubrics, both holistic and analytic types. If you are here only for that information, you may want to jump straight to "The Last Piece: Grading with a Rubric.""