Group items tagged

For those looking for a quiz/test tool, classmarker might be one that you could try out. I've used classmarker for about 5 years now, and I really like the many options it has. The ability to make question banks quite easily, and re-use quizzes/tests over and over again for different groups makes it really nice if you are teaching the same classes again and again. It can be a bit complex with all the different settings/tools/options/etc. but I think you will find it useful and easy to use if you are looking for a powerful quizzing/testing tool.

The study concluded that for online classes that range from 16 to 40 students, increasing class size as much as 25 percent does not significantly affect student grades, credits earned in the next session, or enrollment in the next session. The preliminary paper discussed the implications for the results, suggesting impact on cost savings for institutions with an online program with large numbers of students and classes. For instance, establishing class size limits of 40 students as opposed to 30 students could have positive financial implications through instructor compensation.  The researchers acknowledged limitations of the study, which was the sample of relatively small online classes.

In this article, Justin Reich, a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Technology, Innovation, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, argues that LMS are "homogenized, transient and disempowering" and that they serve "the needs of institutions, not individual students." The author describes teaching a course in a large-scale environment where "the specific goal is for students to learn to build networks of learning resources- people, readings, websites and communities- that can help them continue learning in a domain long after a course ends." His course, built on Connectivist principles, asks students to move beyond the course LMS and "curate links and connections and share their evolving ideas." Students used websites, blogs, Twitter and other Web spaces to share and store their ideas. The author discusses several advantages of moving beyond the LMS. Justin, R. (2015, February 13). Techniques for Unleashing Student Work from Learning Management Systems. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/02/techniques-for-unleashing-student-work-from-learning-management-systems/

You must check out this blog. It presents ideas for efficient and effective tech integration. One tab focuses on professional development options for 21st century educators, each topic relating to using technology in the classroom. There is a page on Digital Literacy Badges, Google Docs; the list goes on as some of the pages have multiple tabs to take you to even more information. I could spend hours exploring. It is amazing the number of different online sites available for teachers to host content and for students to present their understanding. The host of this blog Sue Oxenvad also offers online professional development, which you can register for on the blog.

Website with a good blog with strategies for teachers to make learning fun and for teaching creative and critical thinking skills. "While that is still an important piece, it has blossomed into so much more. At this point, about 3/4 of the posts here are written by guest bloggers in the field of education. This has resulted in Minds in Bloom becoming an amazing resource for teachers, tutors, and homeschoolers, as well as counselors, and other professionals who work with children. In addition to posts about teaching strategies and classroom management, you will also find plenty of freebies and an occasional giveaway."

I have found a number of interesting and useful articles on the blog at Minds in Bloom. In particular, the guest posts by occupational therapist Loren Shlaes offer ideas about things I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. How children sit, affects their brains and abilities to focus. Asking kids to sit still harms, rather than helps learning!

For those interested in Aboriginal Postsec. Education. Preston, J. P. (2008). The Urgency of Postsecondary Education for Aboriginal Peoples. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 2008(86), 1-22.

Sometimes forgotten, for it is certainly not new or "sexy", yet a powerful quizzing tool to add to your collection of non-LMS Web 2.0 resources. Very, very robust. Allows you to manage classes, quizzes, and reports. Easy to use. Stable (I first started to use it over a decade ago). Once you create an account, you will see the tabs across the top of the page for instructors.

A huge list of free online tools for teaching/learning. "At least one excellent free learning tool (or site) for every learning problem, need or issue!"

Wow--quite a list! Thanks! :)

The WikiEducator is an evolving community intended for the collaborative: - planning of education projects linked with the development of free content. - development of free content on Wikieducator for e-learning. - work on building open education resources (OERs) on how to create OERs. - networking on funding proposals developed as free content.

The Community of Inquiry Framework is a powerful tool for helping to design and organize online learning environments. The Webinar series are great learning activities for professionals engaged in online education.

I just found this nice little collection of resources while looking for project ideas. The site is Canadian and has resources for grades K-12. The subjects are also broken down into science, english, social studies and math (and it's further broken down within each of these). There are a number of activities and lesson plans available for teachers and the topics covered are all very current and I'm sure they would engage today's student. One of the especially nice things on this site is that they also have resources for parents and students. I think this is key, as so much learning takes place outside of the classroom.

This is a terrific tool to select apps for non-LMS build

I am so glad I happened across this. In preparation for next week I am revisiting my bookmarked links and came across all of your awesome links Avi! Thank-you!

Photosforclass.com includes built-in #creativecommons search engine. Great search engine for free images that include image citations. Safe G Rated images.

A few project-based tools for hands-on and collaborative learning experiences

I thought this was a really cool set of resources directly from NASA. Most of it is aimed at educators from a K-12 level. There is some really interesting stuff here, especially for educators in the science and technology fields. It even breaks down what audiences resources are appropriate for. I think the fact that NASA is involved could be a built-in way to grad student attention, right off the bat (I would love to check out a NASA webinar as a secondary student)

I love this site. It's hosted by the University of Berkeley and has a ton of great information for educators in the sciences. Not only does it have some really great resources for science education from kindergarten through to grade 12 (and actually even into undergraduate), but is also has lessons for teachers who may need a little refreshing on the topic.

Digital literacy blog about using google advanced search as a way to teach kids to use the basic google search tool. A valuable brief for anyone who uses the internet.

For our Principles of Education course, we were given a reading on digital literacy by Alan November. In it, this blog is referenced. The reading and this blog really opened my eyes to the way that search engines work. I realized that in order to teach students to be digitally literate, I need to become much more digitally literate myself. A very insightful read.

Many of you may have already seen this, but it is worth saving to serve as a reference. I didn't do a lot of mark up as it is mostly in point form and a quick read. I did, however, highlight the vision for DL in BC as I thought you would find it interesting.

An article by Rick Wormeli at the University of Victoria that speaks to how to effectively manage rewrites and redos in the classroom. An interesting read.

I first saw this article a few years? ago and we used it to create a redo policy/guideline for our high school. It is a good article to share and really got me thinking about redos and re-writes. It got me promoting this allot more as a result reading this. The whole idea is to get students to learn and if redoing helps, well why not. the flip side is it has created more work for me by having to create another test if that is involved because I do not give the same one. Of course I have to re-mark it. All good as long as the student is putting more time into learning.