Group items tagged

Infographic on the 20 best LMS although the infographic really seems to be about the 20 'most popular' LMS systems as criteria for 'best' are not listed... Note that Moodle is No.1 but the surprise is Edmodo which comes in at No.2. 

In this article I want to reflect on the rhetoric of 'Web 2.0' and its potential versus actual impact. I want to suggest that we need to do more than look at how social networking technologies are being used generally as an indicator of their potential impact on education, arguing instead that we need to rethink what are the fundamental characteristics of learning and then see how social networking can be harnessed to maximise these characteristics to best effect. I will further argue that the current complexity of the digital environment requires us to develop 'schema' or approaches to thinking about how we can best harness the benefits these new technologies confer.

NZ uni websites review, focusing on social media, connections with stakeholders, and how discoverable this info is.

RT @kiwirip: (via Jacqui Kelly) How can a #university best use #socialmedia for internal #communications? http://gu.com/p/2pefk/tw #yam

Clark sets the cat among the pigeons with this post arguing that Moocs are the best thing since sliced bread. He's always prepared to mix it up and there are some astute observaions in here. What is missing is what the landscape will look like in 1 or 2 years.

"Evidence shows that engaged students perform better academically than disinterested students. Measurement of engagement with education is difficult and imprecise, especially in large student cohorts. Traditional measurements such as summary statistics derived from assessment are crude secondary measures of engagement at best and do not provide much support for educators to work with students and curate engagement during teaching periods. We have used academic-related student contributions to a public social network as a proxy for engagement. Statistical summaries and novel data visualisation tools provide subtle and powerful insights into online student peer networks. Analysis of data collected shows that network visualisation can be an important curation tool for educators interested in cultivating student engagement."

Infographic on online education providers that offer online courses - including ones that are free and well known such Coursera & Udacity as well as others that are less well known  which charge subscription fees such as Benchprep and The Great Courses. 

Civil liberty and freedom versus copyright. Which has the best moral right to win?

Options for using Twitter. "It is organized by the categories WATCH (easiest degree of difficulty, TALK (moderate), and PRODUCE (highest degree of difficulty). We did our best to put each box in the appropriate place. Therefore, some of them are in between different degrees of difficulty, etc."

Using paper technology to engage classes, lectures etc.

"The manifesto for teaching online was a key output from the Student Writing project at the University of Edinburgh. It is a series of brief statements that attempt to capture what is generative and productive about online teaching, course design, writing, assessment and community. It is, and may remain, a living document that is reviewed and reworked periodically with colleagues, students and amongst the programme team of the MSc in E-learning programme. Its primary purpose is to spark discussion, and to articulate a position about e-learning that informs the work of the project team, and the MSc in E-learning programme more broadly. This position is best summarised by the first of the manifesto statements: Distance is a positive principle, not a deficit. Online can be the privileged mode."

"Some might argue that the analytics tools at our disposal are currently mainly used for boring purposes, such as improving processes and making money. In this paper we will try to define learning analytics and their purpose for learning and education. We will ponder on the best possible fit of particular types of research methods and their analysis. Methodological concerns related to the analysis of Big Data collected on online networks as well as ethical and privacy concerns will also be highlighted and a case study of the use of learning analytics in a Massive Open Online Course explored."

Using a cutlery analogy with personal devices - we choose the best one for the job in hand and use multiple types.

Article refutes five commom myths about MOOCs 1. Fail to engage students in effective pedagogical practices 2. Deny students mentoring experiences with scholars passionate about their research 3. Lack the rigor of an on-campus curriculum 4.Provide, at best, superficial and narrowly defined training rather than deep understanding 5.Are an attempt to replace faculty"

"As learning technologies are now integral to most higher education student learning experiences, universities need to make strategic choices about what technologies to adopt and how to best support and develop the use of these technologies, particularly in a climate of limited resources. Information from students is therefore a valuable contribution when determining institutional goals, building infrastructure and improving the quality of student learning. This paper draws on a survey of student experiences and expectations of technology across three Australian universities. Analysis of text responses from 7,000 students provides insight into ways that institutional learning technologies and academic-led technologies are influencing the student experience. This paper also discusses how the three universities have used this information to develop strategic initiatives, and identifies a need for new strategies to support academic-led use of the available tools."

"Here's the lowdown so you can make the best choices in which eBook app software to use on your iPad."