I've been away for a while with a new baby and a cross country move. Here is an intereing website I think you may enjoy:
Ideagora - http://innovate-ideagora.ning.com/
Ideagora is growing and adapting as a professional network of individuals, organizations and professional groups engaged in knowledge and resource sharing, research, social policy, political strategy, technology issues, and business policies.
Ideagora will focus on generating ideas and support projects that result in sustainable solutions and actionable outcomes. When a significant group of cross discipline thinkers and doers come together under one roof all participants benefit from a shared commitment to results. We will continue to highlight ideas and creative solutions to enhance the global educational process via technology, digital content, social media and web 2.0 tools.
In addition to posting discussions and blogs, we invite all members to post their articles, on the creative use of information technology to enhance education and training in academic, commercial, and governmental settings. Our basic assumption is that innovation in one sector can inform practice in each of the other sectors.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Friday, December 4, 2009
Want to Learn a Foreign Language?
Social Language Learning - Online!
- Learn languages online at your own pace with fun language lessons
- Connect with foreign language partners around the world
"Livemocha is the best online language program I have seen and used—vastly superior to Rosetta Stone in terms of cost and the variety of language functions it offers."
Dr. Steven J. Sacco, Language Professor, San Diego State University
PhD in Foreign Language Education
PhD in Foreign Language Education
Want to learn a foreign language? Check out Live Mocha.com. It is free to join, you must be at least 13 years old, and there is a wide variety of languages to choose from. You also have the opportunity to connect with native speakers. Learning a 2nd, 3rd, or more language helps you enhance your world view and make even more international connections.
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:
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.
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.
Monday, October 26, 2009
In Sync Training
InSync offers free online trainings through WebEx sessions. Take a look at the link and see if there is something that you find interesting. They have several sessions on adult learning, effective assessments, and e-learning. Also, if you cannot attend the live session, there are links to recordings of some of them.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
YUDU Publishing
YUDU.com is an ePublishing library & marketplace that helps you create, enhance, share, promote and sell digital publications with the world.
Share your interests and expertise with the world.
Share your interests and expertise with the world.
Find interesting digital documents, magazines and ebooks - many for free and others that you can buy - and save them to your own free library. Add photos and music and bookmark your favorite websites. Start an Interest Group to share your passions and expertise or create a private group online for your club or class. Invite friends and other users to join your group and allow them to add relevant content of interest.
Be your own Publisher.
Upload your Word, Powerpoint and PDF files and convert them automatically into page-turning digital editions, ebooks, ezines and e catalogues which are hosted by YUDU for free. Add YouTube videos and other multimedia with a Plus account. Keep your publications private or share them with the world - YUDU publications are searchable by Google, Yahoo and others. Self-publishing with YUDU is quick and easy!
In addition, upload podcasts, MP3 and photos and bookmark your favourite websites with thumbnail screenshots, so you can remember them easily and encourage others to view them. Organize your published items within albums in your library and promote your digital content on your own site via embedded libraries or embedded single digital publications.
Carbon Neutral Publishing
It's not difficult to imagine the environmental benefits of publishing online with YUDU. Their system was designed with energy efficiency in mind. Each page has the lowest electronic footprint possible, whilst maintaining the highest quality viewing experience - YUDU publications use very little energy.
Online Help
These free web resources can help you make save time, save money, and succeed in your distance learning courses.
1. OpenCourseWare - Opencourseware is class material such as syllabuses, reading lists, lecture notes, and other documents that were once used in an actual classroom and are now available to the public for free. Several universities such as MIT make this valuable material available on their websites as a service to the public.
2. Question and answer websites – When you find yourself with a question, users from question and answer web sites like Yahoo Answers, Wondrir, or Answerology can help you out.
3. Online Writing Labs – Perfect for helping you polish that term paper, online writing labs (otherwise known as OWLs) give users a massive amount of information on how to write well.
4. Google Scholar – If you use Google Scholar, Google Books, and Google News, you may never have to leave your house again. These services make writing those undergrad research papers almost too easy.
5. Literature guides – Didn't read the book? No sweat. Online lit guides will walk you through the basics without charging you a dime.
6. Online classes – There's a free online class for just about every subject. From reading groups to photography, joining an online class is instant and can give you a lot of valuable information (and access to people who have the answers).
7. Ask a Librarian Service - Many states have fantastic Ask a Librarian programs that allow users to chat with a librarian live (and for free) from their home computers. California’s program Asknow.org gives access to live librarians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all residents. To find out if your state hosts such a program enter your state’s name and “ask a librarian” in any search engine.
8. Online book archives - While newer texts are unlikely to be online, hundreds of older pieces with expired copyrights are all over the internet. The Internet Public Library, for example, offers links to hundreds of full-text books, magazines, and newspapers. Bartleby, a similar site, offers thousands of ebooks and reference materials free of charge. Readers can even download the books for free and view them on their desktop or handheld device. Project Gutenberg provides 16,000 e-books free for download, including classics such as Pride and Prejudice and The Odyssey.
9. Scholarship search engines – Money is one of the biggest concerns of college students. A scholarship search engine can help take care of that problem pronto.
10. Podcasts – iTunes has a growing number of podcasts dedicated to helping students. Download them for free and play them in your car to learn a new language, understand physics, or take legal lessons from a JD student.
Article Source
1. OpenCourseWare - Opencourseware is class material such as syllabuses, reading lists, lecture notes, and other documents that were once used in an actual classroom and are now available to the public for free. Several universities such as MIT make this valuable material available on their websites as a service to the public.
2. Question and answer websites – When you find yourself with a question, users from question and answer web sites like Yahoo Answers, Wondrir, or Answerology can help you out.
3. Online Writing Labs – Perfect for helping you polish that term paper, online writing labs (otherwise known as OWLs) give users a massive amount of information on how to write well.
4. Google Scholar – If you use Google Scholar, Google Books, and Google News, you may never have to leave your house again. These services make writing those undergrad research papers almost too easy.
5. Literature guides – Didn't read the book? No sweat. Online lit guides will walk you through the basics without charging you a dime.
6. Online classes – There's a free online class for just about every subject. From reading groups to photography, joining an online class is instant and can give you a lot of valuable information (and access to people who have the answers).
7. Ask a Librarian Service - Many states have fantastic Ask a Librarian programs that allow users to chat with a librarian live (and for free) from their home computers. California’s program Asknow.org gives access to live librarians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all residents. To find out if your state hosts such a program enter your state’s name and “ask a librarian” in any search engine.
8. Online book archives - While newer texts are unlikely to be online, hundreds of older pieces with expired copyrights are all over the internet. The Internet Public Library, for example, offers links to hundreds of full-text books, magazines, and newspapers. Bartleby, a similar site, offers thousands of ebooks and reference materials free of charge. Readers can even download the books for free and view them on their desktop or handheld device. Project Gutenberg provides 16,000 e-books free for download, including classics such as Pride and Prejudice and The Odyssey.
9. Scholarship search engines – Money is one of the biggest concerns of college students. A scholarship search engine can help take care of that problem pronto.
10. Podcasts – iTunes has a growing number of podcasts dedicated to helping students. Download them for free and play them in your car to learn a new language, understand physics, or take legal lessons from a JD student.
Article Source
Friday, October 9, 2009
Using Jing for better communications!
Jing is a free product that you can use to better communicate with other students and professors. It allows you to record your voice and desktop, and then send a link to the video through emails, webpages, or discussions. (You can record for up to 5 minutes) It can be used in a lot of ways, but here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Open up team communications. If you have a lot of comments about an assignment, and don't want to type them up, just 'Jing', and then send the link to your team.
- If you are struggling with Excel or @Risk, record yourself working through a problem, send it to the professor, and then they can easily see what you are doing, or where you are making a mistake.
- Sometimes it's just nice to hear a voice. Discussion forums can get tedious with all that text. Try recording your thoughts for a discussion thread, then post the link. It's sure to get people talking!
Here's a short sample video: http://www.screencast.com/t/6N8TzVsas4
Friday, October 2, 2009
Social Networking to Connect
Social networking sites are everywhere these days. A typical graduate student has a LinkedIn account, Facebook profile, and is often tweeting away on Twitter. These sites all offer ways to connect, reconnect, and stay in tune with what is happening in the world around you and in the lives of your friends and colleagues.
There can be more than just staying connected found in these sites however. They can help find jobs, research, develop business, and generate ideas. You can follow your company CEO, favorite professor, even your direct boss along with college roommates and high school sweetheart. The benefits are countless. Twitter for business purposes is a great resources for what to tweet and how to do it to reach the appropriate audience. More and more students are creating their own blogs in addition to social networking to share their views, ideas, and opinions on current events or topics they are studying.
We live in a world of connectivity. The more connected you are, the more you can learn from, and even teach others.
There can be more than just staying connected found in these sites however. They can help find jobs, research, develop business, and generate ideas. You can follow your company CEO, favorite professor, even your direct boss along with college roommates and high school sweetheart. The benefits are countless. Twitter for business purposes is a great resources for what to tweet and how to do it to reach the appropriate audience. More and more students are creating their own blogs in addition to social networking to share their views, ideas, and opinions on current events or topics they are studying.
We live in a world of connectivity. The more connected you are, the more you can learn from, and even teach others.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Google for Students
The Google Applications offer several options for collaborative learning for students. GoogleDocs (and similar products) provide students the opportunity to work collaboratively on a paper or project without just "dividing and conquering". The file sharing will help you to write the document with one voice rather than a piecemeal operation. This is also a great way to provide feedback and peer editing for each other.
Here is a fun YouTube Video on the power of GoogleDocs:
Here is a fun YouTube Video on the power of GoogleDocs:
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Adobe Tools
Adobe Comments are a great way to share comments, feedback, tips, etc. on a document.
To use Adobe Comments:
To use Adobe Comments:
- Convert the Word doc to a PDF
- Open the PDF and go to Tool
- Advanced Commenting
- Attach
- Attach Sound Tool Your mouse pointer will change to a sound icon.
- Click where you want to insert a comment.
- Click on the red dot to record. (Make sure your microphone is set up and ready to record.)
- Click on the black square to stop.
- Click "okay" and "close"
- Save the file and send it to anyone!
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