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.
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/
The Learning Circle: Classroom Activities on First Nations in Canada, Ages 8 to 11
Researched and written by Harvey McCue and Associates for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, from 2006.
Special thanks to:
The First Nations Confederacy of Cultural Education Centres The National Association of Friendship Centres
This is a learning research from the Ministry of Northern and Indigenous Affairs (from 2006). It has learning and lesson activities related to topics relevant to First Nations in Canada today. The activities will not apply to all First Nations and should be adapted to appropriately reflect the knowledge and cultures of the local First Nations where you live and work.
I like that this resource encourages a focus on contemporary First Nations communities and reserves. It also has a section on First Nations heroes and a section on critically examining stereotypes in media about First Nations people.
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.
This article examines the potential of synchronous communication in online education by analyzing the newest tools and platforms that facilitate real-time group communication, and the pedagogy associated with implementing synchronous communication tools into asynchronous learning environments.
By Tom Preskett Connecting formal education to social media/web 2.0 tools is a relatively new area. Educational institutions hope that by purchasing a virtual learning environment (VLE) all of their learning technology needs will be met. However, the world moves fast, and some educators find that our suite of communication and collaboration tools doesn't cater...
"This course provides teachers with the foundation for understanding the movement towards virtual instruction. It introduces fundamental knowledge needed by teachers to succeed in a technology-dependent, instructional environment."