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Fueling their enthusiasm is the explosion of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, the new species of free classes prestigious universities are offering to students around the world. As educators debate what the classes mean for the future of traditional universities, one thing is clear - they provide a vast laboratory to study learning, using a trail of electronic data to examine what resources or study habits best help students, whether they take courses online or in traditional classrooms.

"April 3, 2013, 12:43 pm By Karen Head ...The preparation of a MOOC, unlike that of a traditional course, requires working with videographers, instructional designers, IT specialists, and platform specialists. For many MOOCs this means that an instructor and a teaching assistant must fill most of those support roles. In fact, one of my colleagues who taught a MOOC actually built a recording studio in the basement of his home. Even with our team of 19, we still needed several other people to provide support. We now also have an internal project manager to coordinate our videography needs. I'm very thankful to have these people helping us. ..."

Whether you're new to technology, just getting started with a social network, or looking for some useful tips then these courses are for you. They're part of a new idea that I've been working on with a few friends. We're calling it Modern Lessons and it's essentially a 'Khan Academy for real-world skills' where a small handful of people build free online courses designed to help you learn some important things.

Each activity-creation tool helps students develop historical thinking skills and gets them thinking like historians. Choose one of the tools below to begin. Then find and insert primary sources and customize the activity to fit your unique students

"Last year, we looked at the art and science of getting good WordPress support. Now, let's jump into some of the more advanced troubleshooting techniques you can use to tackle the trickier problems you might come up against. Have you heard the old joke: Patient: Doctor, it hurts when I do this. Doctor: Then don't do that! With advanced troubleshooting it's exactly the opposite! You want to be able to reliably reproduce your symptoms. Knowing exactly how to recreate the problem will be a huge help in figuring out how to fix it."

Quei consigli sull'identificazione di problemi ("troubleshooting") non valgono soltanto per i blog WordPress.com, ma in qualsiasi situazione dove possono emergere problemi - compreso il frullatore che rifiuta di frullare.

""Amara's captioning and translation services have helped Coursera deliver educational videos to hundreds of thousands of students around the world," said Andrew Ng, co-founder of Coursera. "This was key to making our content accessible to non-native speakers, and has allowed our content to be delivered in dozens of languages.""

Queste "pagine nascoste" del blog about di Amara sono strane: un pezzo di codice per embeddare un player con una trascrizione interattiva, comunicati stampa non datati, fra i quali questo: ora la cosa bizzarra è che è da un anno che Coursera ha smesso di usare Amara, e da 10 mesi che ha cancellato il suo team Amara. Il team di Khan Academy c'è ancora, ma è praticamente deserto.

"A description of the five steps that will help you succeed in a MOOC. Written and Narrated by Dave Cormier Video by Neal Gillis Researchers: Dave Cormier Alexander McAuley George Siemens Bonnie Stewart Created through funding received by the University of Prince Edward Island through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's "Knowledge Synthesis Grants on the Digital Economy" CC-BY 2010"

I sottotitoli si possono vedere, a scelta, in inglese, italiano, coreano, portoghese e spagnolo. E siccome il video è sotto licenza CC-BY, si potrebbe anche rifare una versione con l'audio in italiano...

By Mathew Ingram Jul. 10, 2013 "Summary: The major publishers say they needed to cut an ebook deal with Apple in order to blunt the force of Amazon's monopoly - but they themselves helped construct that monopoly by insisting on platform-specific DRM."

"Dopo molti annunci, è finalmente andata online "LIA, la vetrina di ebook accessibili pensati per le persone non vedenti e ipovedenti". Era legittimo chiedersi cosa fossero i libri italiani accessibili, poiché né la nazionalità italiana né "libro accessibile" fornivano un qualche indizio sulla natura di questi libri. Ora, dopo la messa in onda, regna lo stesso la confusione: non si riesce a capire in cosa consista il servizio LIA. A prima vista, il sito si presenta come un espositore di libri in formato epub, la cui unica differenza con i normali epub disponibili online in innumerevoli store sembra essere l'apposizione di una specie di certificazione di accessibilità denominata "bollino LIA". (...) Il testo della "certificazione" è perlomeno generico: (...) Questo eBook è certificato accessibile da LIA come? Con quali criteri? Chi sono i certificatori? Non è dato di saperlo. Così come sembrano piuttosto scontati i parametri di valutazione (...) D'accordo, il corretto uso degli elementi sicuramente aiuta la navigazione, ma siete sicuri che inserire dei titoli in ordine gerarchico sparso e casuale, basta che ci siano, sia utile a qualcuno? La "vetrina" sembrerebbe dedicata soltanto a questo: selezionare nella vastità degli epub disponibili sul mercato alcuni titoli scelti e valutati accessibili da qualcuno non si sa chi e come, e rimandare a store esterni per l'acquisto degli stessi. Sì, avete capito bene, bisogna usare due carrelli elettronici: prima quello del sito LIA, dove si selezionano i libri desiderati, e poi quello dello store esterno per effettuare l'acquisto vero e proprio. Siamo davvero sicuri che questo sia un aiuto per chi non ci vede o ha gravi problemi di vista? Non era già abbastanza complicato dover affrontare un carrello? No, due. Potrebbe essere complicato per chiunque, ma per chi utilizza uno screen reader lo è il doppio: effettua l'acquisto in un sito, poi deve anche essere in grado di continua

Ah: m'ero fermato a LIA e non avevo fatto caso si trattasse di un commento su! Conoscevo l'IWA (un anno mi pare ci sono stato iscritto, ai loro esordi), non questo loro impegno. Posso però dire che la legge Stanca è estremamente discutibile: sia per come ha "personalizzato" gli standard invece di applicarli sia per restrizioni di contorno ed obblighi in alcuni casi assurdi che ha imposto. Non so però quanto sia farina del loro sacco e quanto contributo politico. Comunque adesso vado e leggere cosa ne dice lui

Non ha tutti i torti nelle sue critiche: effettivamente l'accessibilità del sito lascia molto a desiderare. La spiegazione però potrebbe esserci. Andando alla ricerca di chi ne fosse il proprietario (che non è specificato da nessuna parte sul sito!) scopro che si tratta di Ediser S.r.l. che - cercando - ha un sito sua che così la descrive: Ediser è la Società di servizi dell'AIE - Associazione Italiana Editori, fondata nel 2002 per l'erogazione di servizi rivolti alle case editrici, tra cui: - l'erogazione di corsi e seminari di formazione e aggiornamento per il personale che opera nella filiera editoriale e dei contenuti digitali o per persone che intendono avviare una casa editrice - la gestione dell'agenzia ISBN per l'area linguistica italiana, di cui è titolare l'AIE - la gestione dei diritti d'autore per la tutela dei diritti di riproduzione delle opere librarie e periodiche - l'organizzazione di fiere del libro attraverso la realizzazione "step by step" di stand collettivi e istituzionali - l'organizzazione di eventi legati al mondo dell'editoria - la gestione di progetti specifici di rilevanza nazionale e internazionale legati al mondo dell'editoria - il «Giornale della libreria»: il mensile professionale dell'editoria libraria e dell'industria dei contenuti editoriali italiana Inoltre LibriAccessibili.it - e più in generali il progetto LIA che ha un sito a parte chissà perchè... (progettolia.it) - è "Realizzato mediante il finanziamento del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali" come dice il disclaimer (obbligatorio per chi usi finanziamenti pubblici) accompagnato da loro del ministero definito "Partner di progetto". Insomma: sono gli editori che definiscono le condizioni per darsi il bollino e poi se lo danno... Ma pagato con i soldi che il Ministero non ha per salvare Pompei! Altro che bastoni e carote...

"DataWeave provides actionable data by aggregating, parsing, organizing and visualizing millions of data points from the Web. We help you discover, monitors, and analyze huge amounts of data. Much like the roots of a tree, DataWeave draws data from the web and makes it available for use in your Apps, Analytics and day to day decision making.DataWeave makes data access easy through APIs, dashboards, alerts, and visualizations."

"Dr. Alice Christie's "Virtual Field Trips" Resource Guide     Virtual field trips (VFTs) are alternatives to more costly real-world field trips. In addition to being inexpensive, they are engaging to students becasue they enable students to make connections between themselves and the wide-ranging environments they can explore virtually. They also offer authentic, inquiry-based learning experiences to students.     This Resource Guide provides links to numerous: profesionally-created VFTs tools to create VFTs teacher-created VFTs other resources helpful to teachers wishing to use VFTs in their classrooms"

0 July 2013 Last updated at 08:52 GMT Help 3D printing has been around for some time but now the technology is available for the same price as a top-end TV at shops. 3D printing has been hailed as the future of manufacturing. The technology works by building up layer upon layer of material - typically plastic - to build complex solid objects. The idea is that as the printers become cheaper, instead of buying goods from shops, consumers will instead be able to download designs and print out the items at home. Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones has been finding out what 3D print stores offer

"A gallery of Esri story maps Esri publishes story maps with three goals: To showcase interesting and important topics; to explore techniques and best practices for map-based storytelling; and to help enable people to make their own story maps"

dowmload and installation tutorial

Screencast-o-matic è il programma gratuito che sto usando per confezionare i videotutorial su Edmodo. Sono molto soddisfatta del risultato. Tenete però presente che il "Pro Account" menzionato nella seconda parte di questo questo videotutorial segnalato da Fabrizio è la versione a pagamento, che naturalmente offre qualche servizio in più rispetto a quella gratis.

"Videogames are one of the fastest trending topics in media, education, and technology. Research across fields as disparate as science, literacy, history, visual processing, curriculum, and computer science suggests that videogames aren't just fun - they can actually be good for your mind as well. In this course, we will discuss current research on the kinds of thinking and learning that goes into videogames and gaming culture. We'll investigate the intellectual side of digital gameplay, covering topics that range from perception and attention in Left 4 Dead 2 to the development of historical understanding in Civilization to collaborative learning in massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft. Throughout the course, we examine the inherent tensions between contemporary youth culture and traditional education and new developments in games for learning that promise to help bridge that growing divide."

"Coding In The Classroom: 10 Tools Students Can Use To Design Apps & Video Games In this age of social media, edtech, smartphones, tablets and MOOCs, software applications play a larger role than ever in the learning environment. In fact, apps have reached such a level of ubiquity and everyday integration that a number of software companies are turning out apps that can help students create apps of their own. Here's a list of 10 software tools that can jumpstart a student's knowledge and skill in computer programming"

"Here's the lastest video educator's are jacked about: [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UFpe3Up9T_g ] I like much about this video. I like the message. I like the way it's shot. I like the girls. What I don't like is the perception that this is the girl's invention. It's not. These girls are likely no more into inventing and making than most girls their age. While I might be able to look past that, and I can, I don't like the perception that this is authentic as it suggests. Which raises the larger question of authentic student voice. I remember first being struck by this when this video came out about 6 years ago: [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_A-ZVCjfWf8 ] It's an iteration of Michael Wesch video using college aged students. When I saw the k-12 version it just didn't sit well with me. The signs the students held seemed to be the language and ideas of adults. I had a hard time thinking any 5 year old would use the phrase "engage me". But still I thought the video had value but I never used them to share with others. (...) If you're still jacked about the little girls video, that's okay, show it to your young girls, encourage them to explore science but let's have enough awareness to know when we're being sold something. My point with this little wander through video is let's advocate for student voice but not fake ones. Our students do have a voice. Most of them are childlike, full of child like ideas and most aren't as eloquent as adults because they aren't adults. That's what we're supposed to be doing, helping them develop that voice. Yet we do have some that are ready for prime time and we should provide ways for them to share. I know some districts have had students keynote. I think that's great, as long as the core of their story is their own, not the districts or their teachers. I'd way rather listen to a student share a less polished message that was their ow

Vedi anche il commento di Stephen Downes in http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=61423

"What Are Rubrics Students have been known to refer to rubrics as "those things with the little boxes", while teachers know rubrics as a set of scoring guidelines that evaluate students' work and provide a clear teaching directive. Rubrics are a powerful, authentic tool used to assess students' work. This scoring tool lists specific criteria for a project or piece of work. The criterion helps students to have a concrete understanding and visualization of "what counts". Each standard or criteria also includes a gradation scale of quality. The rating scale could be numerical, qualitative, or a combination of both. Rubrics seek to evaluate assignments based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score."

"Are you curious about the Helpouts experience? Take a free test spin with a member of the Helpouts Team! You'll get a firsthand tour of the product and see just how easy it is to receive help over video chat. Schedule a time with one of our Helpouts Specialists, or see who is available now! Our team of knowledgeable specialists looks forward to showing you how it all works. If there is a long queue to join this Helpout, feel free to watch our intro video instead!"

La mia recenzione di questo "helpout sugli helpout": "Ronnie was very patient and gave very clear answers. As to whether people from other countries than Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, U.K., and the U.S. (see https://support.google.com/helpouts/answer/3164468?hl=en&ref_topic=14126 ) would be allowed to offer helpouts in future, he said this is planned. As to the difference between helpouts and hangouts, he explained that though helpouts are using the hangout platform, they are a different service. And when asked if helpout participants can use the live captioning app that can be used in hangouts (see https://hangout-captions.appspot.com/ ), he said no. When I asked why the "Introducing Helpouts by Google" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-VFC9AQM1k video is uncaptioned, and the video embedded in the "Find out what it's like to get a Helpout!" https://helpouts.google.com/111421743141645456280/ls/b41c1faef6b76d0f page is not only uncaptioned, but also uncaptionable via e.g. streaming it to amara.org, because if you try to open it on youtube, you get to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picasacid , which says: "An error occurred during validation. This video does not exist. Sorry about that." he candidly said he couldn't answer and suggested using the feedback, which I'm doing. Same reply when I asked if Google planned to caption these videos. Sure, I would have preferred to get more hopeful answers to the questions about accessibility, but it was great to get candid ones, which can now be reported to the discussion lists of the Collaborative for Communication Access via Captioning - http://ccacaptioning.org/ . " No, è vero, Ronnie è stato bravissimo. Chissà quanti helpout si sarà sorbito quel giorno, e paffete arriva una che comincia a rompergli le scatole e il nuovo giocatolo Google, portandolo a riconoscere implicitamente che insomma, meglio gli hangout veri e propri..

"K-8 Intro to Computer Science is a free course that aims to demystify computer science and show K-8 students that it's fun, collaborative, and creative. The course is designed to motivate students and educators to continue learning computer science to improve real world relationships, connections, and life. Educators will foster an environment of communal learning that emphasizes risk-taking. This course will teach students about computer science, computational thinking, and programming. It will also teach that success does not come on the first try, just like the world's most difficult problems aren't solved on the first try. Challenge is good when it is supported by plans and tools that lead to success. This course will help students persevere in solving problems."