Learning Design Tools and Resources

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.

Metta (www.metta.io) is a digital storytelling tool that allows you to create lessons using audio, videos, and images from your computer or from the web. It is a great online app for creating short flipped or blended lessons for students to help them learn outside of the classroom. With this outstanding web application, teachers can easily create a digital content based story, supplemented with images and text. Teachers can also include poll questions in order to test the knowledge of students. So, with Metta, you can easily combine multimedia elements together to produce an awesome digital lesson.

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.

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 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)

"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."

"Idealware's new report, Infographics for Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing: From Data to Design, is a guide to help you think through the process of understanding and creating infographics. In it, we cover what defines an infographic and help you create one that presents your data in a compelling and easy-to-understand way. We've also included a number of examples of infographics, both good and bad, to make the point clear."

More teaching, less tech-ing Welcome to a preview of Classroom, a new tool coming to Google Apps for Education. Classroom weaves together Google Docs, Drive and Gmail to help teachers create and organize assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently, and communicate with their classes with ease. And it lets students organize their work, complete and turn it in, and communicate directly with their teachers and peers. Classroom was designed hand-in-hand with teachers to help them save time, keep classes organized, and improve communication with students.

"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."

"These free project management tools can help you to stay on track by creating a virtual base of operations. Keep in mind that while all these tools are free, most of them offer advanced features for a fee (monthly or annually)."

Seeing is believing: Group video calling for up to 15 people is now a core service in Google Apps for Education. See 10 ways that schools are putting this to good use.

Important trends to pay attention to