Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Student Presentations

So often students feel limited in their online classes to turn in assignments as Word Documents. With so many technologies available, think outside the box when turning in an assignment or project. Is there a way to add audio? video? additional graphics? See what you can come up with to make your assignments stand out. It doesn't take much more time or effort.
  • Jing- http://www.jingproject.com/
    downloadable screen capture software (Free, but creates a limit of 5 minutes so you will need to break your presentation into parts and link each part to the Forum.)
  • PowerPoint Narration- http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/CH063500681033.aspx
    creates a file that can be quite large, but can be uploaded to a forum.
  • Tegrity - this is a software we use at Thunderbird, your school may use it as well or have something similar.
  • Create a recording with your camera and upload it to YouTube or a create a slide show that you can link to on Flickr.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Stay Connected

How do you stay connected with your peers around the world?

Some possibilities for you to use:
Skype - can be run from a USB drive : http://www.von-phone.com/portable-skype.php
Meebo - can combine several IMs into one (ie Messenger, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and more)

Students looking to travel - check this out:

Friday, November 6, 2009

E-Learning Around the World

No longer do students need to test, enroll, and attend a 4 year college if that doesn't fit their life, schedule and/or budget. Additionally, many learners are going back to school later in life or for a second or even third career move. These resources are just a few example to show how to continue your learning in an online environment around the world.

Lifelong Learning Networks
(LLNs) focus on progression into and through vocational education. They aim to create new learning opportunities; forge agreement across institutions on how qualifications are valued; and produce publicity to help people understand how they can progress through the system. Networks will clarify existing progression opportunities and engage in collaborative curriculum development in order to meet the needs of the vocational learner.

StraighterLine provides high quality, better supported, and lower cost required college courses - online, on your schedule. You can knock out your required courses here with personal, on-demand instruction and earn real college credits that give you a head start on your degree.

The Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and they are building pathways to formal credit as well.