Teacher Lucian Duma sharing knowledge about web 2.0 , mLearning , ELEARNING and Social Media around the world .

Web-based Digital Storytelling Tools and Online Interactive Resources | Danny Maas, Emerging Technologies AISI Consultant #edtech20

Click here to download PDF Handout Version of this Blog Post (2.3 MB)

There are many great websites that provide opportunities for students to develop language skills, tell stories, and share back their knowledge in fun, creative, and meaningful ways each using a computer. There are also terrific websites and portals which have links to excellent online interactives which can be used in the classroom with an interactive whiteboard. Below are links and short descriptions of these sites.

Important Considerations:

What are your educational goals? These types of websites come and go, so understanding your purpose for using these websites and applying those goals to whichever website you use is key. Connecting images to text, developing writing skills, practicing oral language skills – these are goals which can be applied to new web tools that emerge over time.

Fun is not enough – keep the academic rigor present in the websites you choose for students. While there may be ‘free time’ for students to explore sites, there are real opportunities to build knowledge, reflect on learning, and develop skills.

Break down a larger project into smaller chunks – If you are having students create a multimedia story or digital narrative project, set a specific productivity goal for each student for each block of time you work. Once students reach that goal for the day, have an alternative activity for the students to do. In this way, the gap doesn’t widen between faster and slower working students, students have a specific task to focus on, and it will be easier for you as a teacher to keep your project on track.

1 huge task over multiple days is more difficult to manage than several, smaller tasks

Start with a piece of writing in class – For a digital storytelling or narrative, do as much of the writing components in class on paper as possible (or create the digital text on the computer before the multimedia components). Very young students often get ’stuck’ with spelling, and students in general lose themselves in the multimedia aspects of a digital storytelling tool, the text being almost an afterthought. Bernajean Porter statesthat students must be ‘meaning makers’ first, then ‘media makers’. The quality of the work will be higher and students will stay on track more easily.

Put website links in a network folder or on a web page – If you have a “Student Share” network drive and a folder for your class, simply resize the browser and folder windows to both fit on a page, then drag & drop the icon next to a website url into the folder.

Bring a buddy class with younger students – Students in kindergarten or the early grades are capable of doing a lot with a computer, but they need a lot of individual help early on. Bring a buddy class in the upper grades of your school to work one on one with your younger students to develop skills, add websites to ‘Favorites’ or assist with mousing skills. *Important to let the older buddy students know that to best help, never take over the keyboard and mouse but instead show the younger students what/where to type/click.

Encourage students to help each other – there may be only one or two adults in a computer lab setting for 20+ students, so having students help each other is important. Remind students again that the best way to help others is to show the other person where to click or type, not to do it for them.

Digital Storytelling Web-based Tools

Storyjumper - http://www.storyjumper.com
Handout – Getting Started with Storyjumper.com

Storyjumper.com is a web-based tool that lets students create an online book with background scenes, props and characters, uploaded images, and text on digital pages. There is a free education version that allows teachers to create student accounts. Finished stories are viewed on the computer and pages can be virtually ‘flipped’ beautifully, but can also be printed off on paper. These finished stories show beautifully on a large classroom display. How can Storyjumper.com offer this service absolutely free? Users have the option to purchase bound, hard-copy print versions of stories for $25-$30 USD which can be mailed to them.

Animoto – http://www.animoto.com

Blog Post – Using Animoto With Students

Handout – Using Animoto With Students

Get your own education (free full length videos) code – http://animoto.com/education/getting_started

Signing Up Your Own Class – https://animoto.com/sign_up

Animoto allows users to create multimedia slideshows using text, images, music, and/or short (10-second) video clips. Educators can register to get a code which allows numerous full-length video accounts to be created for free. While there is no audio recording component currently available in Animoto for voice narration, users can use text slides to compliment images or video to create the digital narrative. Any sound on a video clip can also be brought in to the Animoto.

Storybird - http://www.storybird.com

Storybird provides beautiful collections of artwork from a variety of artists, to arrange and use as inspiration for a story. Users can add or remove pages, arrange artwork on the pages, and add text. Finished stories are displayed beautifully on the screen. While not as much control over layout as Storyjumper, this is a quick and easy way to generate text based on beautiful images.

Glogster EDU - http://edu.glogster.com
Handout – Getting Started with Glogster EDU (550KB PDF Document)

Glogster EDU is a multimedia poster creator designed specifically for schools and students, and can be a great tool for students sharing back what they know in a particular subject area or displaying a piece of writing. Though these posters can be printed, they are primarily for online viewing. Over 800 free graphics, beautiful styles for backgrounds and titles, ability to upload and add pictures, video, and audio are included in the free education version. Users can arrange and resize elements on the page quickly and easily. Teachers can create up to 100 student accounts with the free version and control/monitor student work. Glogster EDU is truly a wonderful tool that children of all ages enjoy using.

VoiceThread for Education - http://ed.voicethread.com

From the VoiceThread website: http://ed.voicethread.com/about/ “A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate pages and leave comments in 5 ways – using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too. Users can doodle while commenting, use multipleidentities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies.”

Grabba Beast - http://grabbabeast.com/

Grabba Beast is an interactive website which allows users to create a unique ‘beast’ with numerous choices for body parts, accessories, and colors. This can be a great tool for a descriptive language activity. For example:

Monster Match (approximately 45-60 minutes total)

Each student (or pair of students) creates their own unique monster

The monster picture is saved using the “Download Wallpaper” button on the right

Each student (or pair) creates a detailed written description of the monster

The written description ONLY is exchanged with another student (or pair) who attempts to re-create the monster using ONLY the written description

Partners compare both monsters to see how close they are to each other.

Build Your Wild Self - http://buildyourwildself.com/

Build Your Wild Self, created by New York Zoos and Aquariums, works very much the same as Grabba Beast, only you build a boy or girl with animal parts. This can be a fun way to learn about different animals. Sometimes in computer labs Grabba Beast loads very slowly, and when that’s the case I use Build Your Wild Self for the Monster Match activity.

Online Interactive Websites

ABC@2Learn.ca - http://www.2learnabc.ca/

ABC@2Learn.ca is an incredible site which houses hundreds of ‘net resources for kindergarten students. Websites are listed in different categories and can be filtered out for sites especially suitable for interactive whiteboards (such as SMART Boards) by clicking the “IWB” button. Designed and run by the 2Learn.ca Education Society of Alberta and continuously updated, this is the perfect resource for any kindergarten class!

Ready 2Learn.ca - http://www.2learn.ca/r2l/

Ready 2Learn.ca, also run by the 2Learn.ca Education Society, is full of ‘net resources for grade 1 and 2 students. The educational websites are organized by subject area and can also be filtered for sites ideal for classroom interactive whiteboards. Every site has been screened for educational appropriateness and therefore teachers can feel safe using them in their classrooms or sharing them with parents.

Kids Love 2Learn - http://www.2learn.ca/kids

Kids Love 2Learn.ca (another fabulous 2Learn.ca website), is the equivalent of Ready 2Learn.ca, only for grades 3-6 students.

Other Div. 1 Websites to Check out:

List of Interactive Websites Well-suited for SMART Boards – http://delicious.com/maasd/smartboard

Carol Vaage’s K-3 Learning Pages - http://www.k-3learningpages.net

Great K-3 SMART Board Sites - http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html

ABCYa - http://www.abcya.com/index.htm

Virtual Math Manipulatives - http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/grade_g_1.html

UpToTen - http://www.uptoten.com

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Steve's top 10 #tools #elearning #edchat #iste10

Steve's top 10 tools Steve Rayson, a tools enthusiast if ever there was one, was recently asked by e-learning consultant Jane Hart to update his top 10 list of tools for her very useful Centre for Learning and Peformance Technologies site. This is what he came up with in May 2009.

Ok, so they're not all free, but 6 out of 10's not bad...

1	RSS/iGoogle	RSS/iGoogle - Keeping pace with information is a major challenge so my first choice remains RSS feeds. My RSS feeds are set up using iGoogle – my Google home page but you can use any number of readers. I love the fact I can set up RSS feeds for news and issues I want to track.

2	Skype	Skype - Skype continues to change the way people work and communicate. We use it at Kineo to conference call for free and to communicate across our global offices. Though I have deliberately avoided getting a video camera!

3	Twitter	Twitter - I am still learning about Twitter and its potential. At present I am using Twitter to follow many other people, and surprised at how much I am learning so it makes my top tools for the first time. The next stage is to contribute more myself.

4	Moodle	Moodle - Moodle is changing the face of the e-learning industry in my view. It is an open source product which has come of age. It is easy to use, has masses of functionality and is very robust. Simply the best virtual learning environment and no licence fees!

5	Audacity	Audacity - Audio is a versatile option for an e-learning. With the free Audacity tool it is easy to produce, edit and publish audio as an MP3 or other file formats.

6	Flash	Flash - Not easy to get to grips with but a great tool for creating interactive and engaging learning. Increasingly you can find base code for the animations you want and build a library of reusable code to make things much faster. Developments with xml and better accessibility means Flash will increasingly be a tool of choice for more many creative e-learning developers.

7	Articulate	Articulate - This great tool also uses flash but makes it very easy to create engaging e-learning quickly and cost-effectively. Engage was a great addition, making it very easy for anyone to create flash animations and include these in their e-learning. Quizmaker is also a good quiz tool though hopefully we will see better integration with Articulate Presenter in the next releases.

8	Captivate	Captivate - A tool which simply does what is says on the tin. An easy to use screen capture tool which can be used for a wide range of e-learning. Probably the most used tool in this area I suspect.

9	Photoshop	Photoshop - Along with Flash this is my creative space as I don't do music. Photoshop maybe a bit unwieldy but it is great for playing with images and optimising for the web. If you can't afford this you can always get GIMP which is free.

10	Dimdim	DimDim - We have been playing with DimDim this year, the open source virtual classroom tool and I have been impressed. Whilst it does not yet have the full features of many of the commercial alternatives it allows you to run virtual classrooms and its voice over IP is better than most I have used.

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Anne Fox :: Blog :: Ten Blogs & Podcasts Worth Keeping an Eye on #edtech20 #elearning #edchat #iste10

June 30, 2010

Anne Fox

Ten Blogs & Podcasts Worth Keeping an Eye on

When we first started the Absolutely Intercultural podcast back in 2006 and wrote on the podcast website that we were the first podcast to deal with intercultural matters I thought it wouldn’t be long before we had many competitors. But now four years later something has happened to make me look again to see what is available for people interested in intercultural issues and it seems to me the situation has not changed that much. The podcast was tagged as ‘one to watch’ by Valentina Dodge, a teacher of English and online teacher trainer who writes a blog called Life Long Learning. Being tagged gives us the obligation to nominate ten more blogs to watch. This tagging or nomination is part of an initiative called “Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog”, which means “It’s worth keeping an eye on this blog”. So how does this work? The chosen blog has to copy the picture above, with a link to the blog from which it has received the award. And since this is a podcast I thought I would nominate a mix of blogs and podcasts and I thought that they should be about intercultural issues. And what I found is that there are certainly no other podcasts doing quite what we do but I think I have found some interesting ones anyway. In all I found 5 blogs and 5 podcasts to feature in the latest show.

1. Intercultural Eyes
My first choice is Intercultural Eyes by Bettina Hansel an American geographer and here is an extract from a post she made about friendship as a cultural value:

Nowhere do you find the values of a society so clearly marked as when you look at what educators are trying to teach children. I am still mulling over a recent New York Times article that discussed the efforts of some U.S. educators to discourage children from having just one “best friend” on the grounds that other children will feel excluded. Those from other countries who have puzzled over the seemingly superficial nature of U.S. friendship would do well to read this article and see if it sheds some light on the experiences you have had. Apparently these schools claim to be worried about the nastiness that can take place with exclusive cliques, and don’t want students to be ”so possessive about friends” but I am not convinced that their attempt to encourage children to form big groups of friends is a cure for social exclusion or bullying. I haven’t noticed that bullies have a single “best friend.” Yet, according to the Times article, school and summer camp personnel are concerned about children who form a tight friendship with just one other child. The goal is “healthy” (read: not too dependent) relationships with everyone.

2. Global Voices
My first podcast choice is Global Voices, a huge multi-lingual portal with both text, audio and video. I’ve chosen an extract from an interview about an online initiative using blogs and video to bring American, Armenian and Azerbaijani teenagers together to work on creating socially conscious media. If you want to hear more you’ll have to go to globalvoicesonline.org/-/podcasts

3. Pocket Cultures
And for my second blog I have chosen Pocket Cultures which is written by many different people all over the world. At the moment there has just been a series about intercultural marriages where couples answer a standard set of questions which include where did you meet, what language do you speak at home and do you try to cook food from each other’s countries?

4. Interfaith Voices
The second podcast is about religion. It’s called Interfaith Voices and basically explores issues relevant to all the major world religions such as the recent child abuse scandals in the Catholic church or whether there is a relationship between terrorism and Islam. I found this piece about how your idea of heaven may be shaped by your culture interesting.

5. Intercultural Memories
For my next blog recommendation I nominate Intercultural Memories by George Simons who is one of the directors of SIETAR France. Sietar is the Society for intercultural education, training and research and what Simons does in his blog is mainly review books about intercultural issues. He doesn’t post very often but if you want to build up a strong intercultural library then this is the place to go for guidance.

6. Quanxi
Often you need intercultural knowledge because you are doing business across cultures. One of the biggest business blocks is now China and many people help you to understand the Chinese approach to business. Britain’s Open University make a great deal of their material freely available and here is an example from a series about business in China which explains the concept of quanxi which I guess could be translated as reciprocity or obligation.

7. Cindy King
Blog number four is Cindy King’s blog In fact Cindy is an expert on cross-cultural communication in social media and is a prolific Twitterer too. One thing I especially like about Cindy’s blog are her regular International links posts in which she rounds up on interesting intercultural web links.

8. The World
Now for podcast number four which is PRI’s The World. This is a co-production of WGBH/Boston, PRI, and the BBC World Service. Basically it is designed to explain the world to an American public and the topics covered range far and wide. One nice feature of their podcasts are that they provide full transcripts so if you’re learning English this may help.

As England and the US both took part in the FIFA World Cup I thought I would choose an extract from a piece they did about the relationship betwen the two countries when it comes to football (recorded before the start of the World Cup by the way).

9. Separated by a common language
And now to my final blog choice which continues the American versus England theme. The blog attempts to explain the difference between British English and American English. The writer, Lynne Murphy, is American and married to a Briton. The blog is often very funny and here is a short piece about toliets!

Why is it that the (BrE) cubicles in American (BrE) public toilets never go all the way to the floor or the ceiling and there’s always a huge gap that keeps the door from ever fully being closed, meaning that one can never have true privacy?

As is often the case with cross-cultural rhetorical questions, there is a hyperbole-coated grain of truth here. But first, the vocabulary. You’ll have noticed that I marked BH’s cubicles as BrE. I learned about this at Scrabble Club, when I had cause to mention a little sub-room in the ladies’ room that contains a single toilet. I emerged from said room and informed someone that “There’s no paper in the second (AmE) stall“, at which point a competitor loudly exclaimed, “What, you were at the theat{re/er} in there?” And so I defensively asked “What would you call it then?” Ta-da! I give you cubicle.

10. Enough to make your head spin
And so to my final podcast which is from the American Peace Corps website and their wonderful Coverdell World Wise Schools Service. I can’t recommend too highly their intercultural communication training materials which are available free of charge on the website and this extract is from on of the many recordings made by former peace corps volunteers about their postings all over the world. This one is about the Bulgarian way of saying yes and no. It’s a cliche of intercultural communication that you nod your head to say no and shake it to say yes but when you actually have to live it then its quite a different matter.

Thank you to all those podcasters who gave us permission to bring you these extracts. Do go and visit these blogs and podcasts but I hope that in the end you will still come back to us. And if you still think we’re pretty good then why not vote for us in the European Podcast Award. Voting is open until the end of July and you’ll find details about how to do it here.

Don’t forget that you can still vote for us in the European Podcast Awards both on the German page and the Danish page.

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Tags: absolutelyintercultural, AnneFox, BBCWorldService, BettinaHansel, CindyKing, CoverdellWorldWiseSchoolsService, culture, Elmar-LaurentBorgmann, football, GeorgeSimons, GlobalVoices, InterfaithVoices, language, LynneMurphy, OpenUniversity, PeaceCorps, PocketCultures, podcast, quanxi, SIETAR, soccer, ValentinaDodge, worldcup2010

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Stock media resources for your video courses on Sparkeo – List of free stock photo sites | Sparkeo #web20 #edtech20 #edchat #elearning

When you create a web video – regardless of whether or not it is meant to be educational – you’d like your video to be as visually interesting and stimulating as possible. Speaking directly at the camera is less effective than incorporating a PowerPoint presentation. Incorporating a PowerPoint presentation that includes bullet points alone is less effective than one that includes visual stimulation like pictures. Get where I’m going with this?

There are three major types of learners in the world:

Visual learners – people who learn through seeing things, such as graphs, videos, maps, diagrams, and outlines.

Auditory learners – people who learn by listening to teachers, audio books, reading out loud, and being read out loud to.

Kinesthetic learners – people who learn from experiencing things, such as role playing, lab classes, and using memory games.

Of course, many of us learn best through a combination of the above styles. What’s unique about video is that can incorporate all three styles, though visual and auditory learners will benefit most. Adding music, video clips, etc. can greatly increase the effectiveness of your video and keep people watching.

Why is this important, you ask?

Making that first sale to a person is easier than making a repeat sale. Your preview can only show so much of your style, but once someone has made a purchase, they have already had the YOU experience. The longer a viewer remains engaged with your video, the higher the chances are that they will purchase another video course from you. Get where I’m going with this?

To start you off, here is a list of free stock photo sites that you can use to find photos that you can use in your videos in alphabetical order. In my next post, I will also list the paid stock photo sites.

Best Free Stock Photo Sites

Cepolina has free nature and travel photos. Why I like it: The photo descriptions appear in over a dozen languages, and the photos are divided into many categories that you won’t find on other sites, such as by country and region.

EveryStockPhoto is an enormous site that indexes millions of photos. Why I like it: EveryStock is a search engine that searches through many stock photo sites, and it allows you to search by license type.

Bear with me on this one. Flickr, for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with it, is a user-generated photo site. Photos range from incredibly professional to as amateur as it gets, but their tagging service and easy-to-read copyright permissions make photos easy to find and use. Why I like it: If what I said wasn’t enough, using user-generated photos, as opposed to regular stock photos, decreases the chances of someone else using the same photos you’re using.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net have both free and paid photos. Why I like it: All photos (that I’ve browsed) are free, but they are lower-resolution. You can purchase a high-res version, too, so they actually cater to both sides. I just really like their pictures.

FreePixels is very search-friendly, and I usually find what I”m looking for very quickly. Why I like it: Everyone always uses the same business/corporate-type images from other stock photo sites, but this gives you a new pool of photos that you won’t see everywhere. This is more important than you think – you want people to concentrate on what you’re presenting, not trying to remember where they saw that guy with the chalkboard before.

ImageAfter has thousands of great images in many categories. Why I like it: You can use their images for printed brochures that are for sale, so you can most likely use them for your videos (that are also commercial). Be sure to choose the images drop down, and not the textures (depending on what you’re looking for).

ImageBase has lots of really great photos, all are creative commons. Why I like it: Other than having photos that are different than others, ImageBase has a group of really beautiful PowerPoint templates that you can use for your presentations. If you don’t have the time to create your own original backgrounds, but want something different, ImageBase has you covered.

Kave Wall doesn’t have a huge selection of photos, mostly because they’re a studio, not a stock photo site. But the ones they have are incredible. I can’t remember where I first heard about them, but I’ve used them over the last year or so. Why I like it: My friend got me into macro photography, and they have great macro photos. They’re colorful and fun.

Don’t let the gruesome name deter you – MorgueFile is one of the largest free stock photo sites out there. This user-generated photos are free to use commercially, so they’re great for video courses on Sparkeo, but be sure to check the terms on each photo. Why I like it: Once you perform a search, you can filter images by license type, geo-tagging, and category. You can even filter them by color!

NationsIllustrated is also a user-generated photo site that has pictures from all around the world. They are divided by continent, country, and area. Why I like it: The pictures are all incredible, and they are very easily searched and indexed. Plus, if you’re bored, you can click on “Play puzzle” and it will mix it up for you.

NOAA has a really interesting collection of science-related photos that are all part of the US government’s collection. Why I like it: The site encourages use of its photos for educations purposes – they might as well write “use us on Sparkeo!” Also – the pictures are so beautiful that sometimes I just surf the site for fun.

PD Photo is a great public domain photo site. Almost all the photos are available for free use, but be sure to check the licenses before you download, just in case. Why I like it: PD Photo has some really awesome and unique photos that you can’t really find anywhere else, like this one. Seriously – you want to click it.

Photl is hands-down my favorite on the list. It has very unique photos with a style and quality that are equal to paid stock photo sites. You are limited to 35 MB a day, but it’s totally worth it. Why I like it: You can perform a search by keyword AND select the color of the photo from the drop down menu. Plus, when you click download, you can chose to crop the photo and only download the part that you want!

Photogen requires you to register, but you can download all their high-resolution photos for free. Why I like it: All photos free and available for commercial use, and you can even download photos in clusters in a zip file.

Photoree is a search engine for stock photos that allows you to keyword search by license type. Why I like it: If you don’t have lots of time to browse through multiple sites and need a quick fix, Photoree will search across multiple sites for you. The photos themselves are really nice, and they have a ranking system that you can use so it can find more photos that match your taste better. You can also save the photos on the site and access them later.

Photo Rogue has an awesome concept. Why I like it: You can request what you would like a photo of, and their photographers will actually go out and take it for you! Just know that not all requests will be fulfilled, but it’s worth a try!

PhotoVaco has incredible photos that are absolutely free to use, and are very clearly indexed and easily searchable. Why I like it: They have pretty nifty vector sets that you can use.

Public Domain Images is just that – copyright free images that everyone is free to use. Don’t let the Google Ads deter you. Why I like it: There are some real special photos scattered across the site, and all photos are available for commercial use, so they can all be used in your video courses on Sparkeo.

RGB Stock is a growing site of stock photos, many of which are user-generated. They are all free to use. Why I like it: Like some paid stock photo sites, you can view great previews of the photos when you hover over them, which is a huge time saver.

No free stock photo list would be complete without Stock Exchange, possibly the most well-known site of the bunch. I have personally been using Stock Exchange for years, and have rarely had to search another site. Why I like it: Their lightbox lets you save pictures for later, and their browsing is a breeze. I also like changing the view to 60 pictures to minimize scrolling, and you can see large previews of the photo when you hover over it. Plus you can see how many users have downloaded the picture, if uniqueness is important to you.

Stock Vault is another user-generated stock photography site that has free and premium pictures. If you sign up for free, you get a bunch of extra features that make the search process a lot nicer. Why I like it: In addition to a great selection of photos, and the obvious “user-generated, so less popular” that I’ve mentioned about other sites, they also have Photoshop tutorials that can help you create the look you want.

It’s may not be the prettiest of the bunch, but Uncle Sam’s Photos has a large selection of government photos that anyone is free to use in their projects. Why I like it: Uncle Sam’s Photos is actually a directory of all of the US government’s stock photography base, making it easy for you to find what you’re looking for in one place.

As always, whenever you use media that you did not create on your own, check the site’s particular terms of use. Most of the site will allow for both personal and commercial use, some ask for links back, others want nothing in return. It’s important that you comply with the terms of the site, and we recommend taking a couple minutes to review their permissions, especially since you will be selling your video courses.

What free stock photo sites do you like to use? Which would you recommend and why?

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10 Global Trends in ICT and Education | A World Bank Blog on ICT use in Education #edtech20 #elearning #safedchat #edchat #iste10

In the spirit of the new year and all things dealing with resolutions and lists, I submit below my first blog posting for the EduTech blog (checking off a resolution) with a discussion of 10 Global Trends in ICT and Education for 2010 and beyond (joining the crowded space of lists in this new year).

The list is an aggregation of projections from leading forecasters such as the Horizon Report, personal observations and a good dose of guesswork. The Top 10 Global Trends in ICT and Education are:

Mobile Learning. New advances in hardware and software are making mobile “smart phones” indispensible tools. Just as cell phones have leapfrogged fixed line technology in the telecommunications industry, it is likely that mobile devices with internet access and computing capabilities will soon overtake personal computers as the information appliance of choice in the classroom.

Cloud computing. Applications are increasingly moving off of the stand alone desk top computer and increasingly onto server farms accessible through the Internet. The implications of this trend for education systems are huge; they will make cheaper information appliances available which do not require the processing power or size of the PC. The challenge will be providing the ubiquitous connectivity to access information sitting in the “cloud”.

One-to-One computing. The trend in classrooms around the world is to provide an information appliance to every learner and create learning environments that assume universal access to the technology. Whether the hardware involved is one laptop per child (OLPC), or – increasingly -- a net computer, smart phone, or the re-emergence of the tablet, classrooms should prepare for the universal availability of personal learning devices.

Ubiquitous learning. With the emergence of increasingly robust connectivity infrastructure and cheaper computers, school systems around the world are developing the ability to provide learning opportunities to students “anytime, anywhere”. This trend requires a rethinking of the traditional 40 minute lesson. In addition to hardware and Internet access, it requires the availability of virtual mentors or teachers, and/or opportunities for peer to peer and self-paced, deeper learning.

Gaming. A recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project per the Horizon Report found that massively multiplayer and other online game experience is extremely common among young people and that games offer an opportunity for increased social interaction and civic engagement among youth. The phenomenal success of games with a focus on active participation, built in incentives and interaction suggests that current educational methods are not falling short and that educational games could more effectively attract the interest and attention of learners.

Personalized learning. Education systems are increasingly investigating the use of technology to better understand a student’s knowledge base from prior learning and to tailor teaching to both address learning gaps as well as learning styles. This focus transforms a classroom from one that teaches to the middle to one that adjusts content and pedagogy based on individual student needs – both strong and weak.

Redefinition of learning spaces. The ordered classroom of 30 desks in rows of 5 may quickly become a relic of the industrial age as schools around the world are re-thinking the most appropriate learning environments to foster collaborative, cross-disciplinary, students centered learning. Concepts such as greater use of light, colors, circular tables, individual spaces for students and teachers, and smaller open learning spaces for project-based learning are increasingly emphasized.

Teacher-generated open content. OECD school systems are increasingly empowering teachers and networks of teachers to both identify and create the learning resources that they find most effective in the classroom. Many online texts allow teachers to edit, add to, or otherwise customize material for their own purposes, so that their students receive a tailored copy that exactly suits the style and pace of the course. These resources in many cases complement the official textbook and may, in the years to come, supplant the textbook as the primary learning source for students. Such activities often challenge traditional notions of intellectual property and copyright.

Smart portfolio assessment. The collection, management, sorting, and retrieving of data related to learning will help teachers to better understand learning gaps and customize content and pedagogical approaches. Also, assessment is increasingly moving toward frequent formative assessments which lend itself to real-time data and less on high-pressure exams as the mark of excellence. Tools are increasingly available to students to gather their work together in a kind of online portfolio; whenever they add a tweet, blog post, or photo to any online service, it will appear in their personal portfolio which can be both peer and teacher assessed.

Teacher managers/mentors. The role of the teacher in the classroom is being transformed from that of the font of knowledge to an instructional manager helping to guide students through individualized learning pathways, identifying relevant learning resources, creating collaborative learning opportunities, and providing insight and support both during formal class time and outside of the designated 40 minute instruction period. This shift is easier said than done and ultimately the success or failure of technology projects in the classroom hinge on the human factor and the willingness of a teacher to step into unchartered territory.

These trends are expected to continue and to challenge many of the delivery models fundamental to formal education as it is practiced in most countries. It will be interesting to reflect back on this list at the end of the year to see which ideas have gained the most traction; and what new ideas will make a list for 2011….

In 2010 we welcome a new blogger to the team! Robert Hawkins is a Sr. Education Specialist in the World Bank with a focus on science and technology as well as the role of technology in education.

via blogs.worldbank.org

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The Top 25 e-Learning Blogs #edchat #edtech20 #elearning #iste10

1. Free Technology for Teachers - This site provides countless tools and tips for teachers who want to integrate technology into their classrooms. Blogger Richard Byrne has won more than one Edublog Award, such as “Best Individual Blog” and “Best Resource Sharing Blog” two years in a row.

2. E-Learning Queen – Voted as one of the “Top 50 Education Innovators,” and one of OEDb’s Top 100 Education Blogs, this blog updates readers on the latest in technology and provides interviews with different authors.

3. Box of Tricks – This blog provides educational resources, and discusses the latest in technology news. The blog has been nominated for several awards, including “Best Teacher Blog” and “Best Educational Tech and Support Blog” for the 2009 Edublog Awards.

4. NCS-Tech – Designed for K-8 classroom teachers and/or students, this fun and colorful site provides resources for teachers who want to obtain more lesson ideas for their classrooms.

5. The Rapid E-Learning Blog – This site provides great tips for educators who want to learn more about e-Learning courses. Various resources and tips for using audio, graphic design, and videos are included in the postings.

6. iLearn Technology – Elementary school teacher Kelly Tenkley won the “Best Educational Tech and Support Blog” award for the 2009 Edublog Awards, and provides various tips for teachers on how to use technology in their classrooms.

7. Take an e-Learning Break – This blog provides book and product recommendations, Flash, Adobe and Apple tutorials, as well as videos and tips on the latest in E-Learning.

8. Edgalaxy – Nominated as “Best New Blog” and “Best Resource Sharing” Blog for the 2009 Edublog Awards, writer Kevin Cummings takes his readers on a technological journey with the latest gadgets, tools, and toys.

9. e-Clippings – If you need to take a break from all the educational mumbo-jumbo, then check out this interactive and humorous blog. The author-turned-blogger Mark Oehlert focuses on a wide range of controversial issues, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, electronic textbooks, and even politics.

10. eLearning Technology – Former teacher Tony Karrer knows firsthand the technological opportunities that are available for teachers and students. His blog was nominated as “The Best e-Learning/Corporate Blog” for the 2008 Edublog Awards, and provides numerous links on educational strategies.

11. E-Learning Acupuncture – Blogger Eric A. Tremblay provides fun and interactive posts which focus on educational technology, and cover a wide range of topics, from video games to careers, or even Wikipedia.

12. Weblogg-ed – This informative blog provides various articles which focuses on the latest in K-12 student learning, weblogs, wikis, audiocasts, and much more.

13. Online Learning Update – With an abundance of informative articles, this blog has been publishing daily posts since 2001. The site is geared towards the more intellectual reader, specifically college and university students or professors.

14. Gate’s Computer Tips – This fun and interactive blog provides various tutorials, videos, and articles on the latest in technology. The site also won the “The Best Resource Sharing Blog” award for the 2007 Edublog Awards.

15. Kirsten Winkler – Winner of the “Best New Blog” category for the 2009 Edublog Awards, Winkler provides her readers with the latest trends in technology.

16. Dangerously Irrelevant – Author Scott McLeod’s blog has a specific focus on technology leadership issues as well as changing developments in teaching and school districts.

17. EmergingEdTech – This engaging blog is full of resources reflecting the latest in online and e-Learning news.

18. E-Learning Journeys – Nominated for the 2009 Edublog Awards as “The Best Educational Use of Social Networking Service” award, this blog educates readers on the latest in technology and social media.

19. Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development - Brent Schlenker uses his blog as an interactive tool to educate his readers on the latest in technology. He includes discussions about Twitter, Youtube, and literature, and occasionally adds entertaining Youtube videos into his blog posts.

20. George Siemens’ elearnspace – Siemens has been blogging on this site since 2002, and provides small yet informative snippits on the latest in technology news.

21. Social Media in Learning - Blogger Jane Hart provides daily tips, articles, videos, and tutorials on how to use technology in a workplace.

22. Kapp Notes – Readers are educated with step-by-step tutorials and resources on how to use various technological tools such as PowerPoint or 3D interfaces.

23. Clive on Learning – This blog is full of detailed blog posts on the latest in technology and e-Learning. Writer Clive Shepherd provides his readers with informative information and includes important statistics in his posts.

24. Experiencing E-Learning – Focusing on how the use of technology can be an educational tool, blogger Christy Tucker provides weekly links of technology-related articles.

25. Open Thinking – Although updates are scarce, this blog provides tips and resources for those wanting to learn more about education and technology.

via onlinedegrees.org

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Twitter users discuss educational issues through Hashtag Chats #edchat #edtech20 #elearning #iste10

Over the past few months, Twitter “hashtag” chats which focus on educational issues have become increasingly popular for teachers, parents, students, education geeks, and Twitter users around the globe.

By typing in a particular Hashtag (tag) into your Twitter search engine, such as #moviequote or #ilovecanada, you can view each and every tweet which mentions that particular word or tag. If you would like to become involved in the conversation (for example, if you have a great movie quote you want to share, or if you want to talk about your love for Canada), simply add the tag at the end of your tweet so others can view your comments. You can also add a column for the tag in your TweetDeck browser, or you can use TweetChat so the tag is automatically added onto your tweet. The Tweetgrid and Twitterfall applications also allow you to view all the messages in each tagged conversation.

When the chat starts, Twitter users can post their thoughts or questions using these hashtags, and can view the comments from other Twitter users who are engaged in the conversation. Participants can also suggest future topics for the weekly discussions.

Last August, over 100 educators participated in an “#edchat” session, and it became the No. 5 trending topic on Twitter. “Edchat” has been defined as a “collaboration of educators, parents, and students finding solutions to the challenges facing every educational system worldwide.” Discussions can include suggestions on how to improve schools, and some Twitter users provide free resources for others to follow. Last December, the discussion won an Edublog Award for the Most Influential Tweet Discussion.

To follow along with each of the conversations, or view past discussions, click on any of the following popular education tags, or type them into your Twitter search engine. You do not need a Twitter account to read any of the comments, but you will need to sign up for one if you want to join in. (To view a complete list of all the educational hashtags, click here)

#musedchat – Music in education, every Monday at 8 p.m. EST

#hsc – Homeschooling issues, every second Monday of the month at 9 p.m. EST

#ecosys – Changes in public education, every Monday at 9 p.m. EST

#edchat – Educational issues, Tuesdays at noon and 7 p.m. EST

#ptchat – Parent and teacher chat, every Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST

#DistEd – eLearning issues and discussions, every Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST

#ntchat – Teachers and teaching issues, every Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST

#onecom – The One Comment project about educational issues, every Thursday at noon and 7 p.m. EST

#innochat – Innovation in educational issues, every Thursday at noon EST

#SAchat – Student affairs, every Thursday at noon and 7 p.m. EST

#Lrnchat – Learning issues for educators, every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. EST

#BlackEd – Black education, every Thursday at 9 p.m. EST

#gtchat – Gifted student education, every Friday at noon and 7 p.m. EST

#ellchat – English Language Learners, every Sunday at 2 p.m. EST

If you are already involved in any of these Twitter chats, feel free to comment below about your experiences.

via onlinedegrees.org

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30 Top Online Resources For Instructional Designers To Keep Up With | Upside Learning Blog #elearning #edtech20 #iste10 #edchat

ID is an interesting domain to be involved in. On the one hand, you are continuously learning about different work environments as you are called upon to resolve different performance issues. On the other hand, your understanding of the domain, and your role in it, changes over time.

As an instructional designer, you start by learning a whole lot of theories and models. You refine your understanding of these models as you use them in different situations and projects. After a few years you realize that instructional design is more an art rather than just pure science – it is a skill honed with experience, and can’t really be narrowed down into a set of guidelines that will fit every situation. Not every qualified instructional designer is able to create great learning experiences.

The domain is itself constantly evolving with the advances in technology & tools and and a better & deeper understanding of how we learn’. Learner profiles are gradually changing (for instance, more people use smart phones that let them access information on the Internet at any time) and organizations themselves are moving through the stages of workplace learning. The role of learning designers is beginning to change from being creators of learning interventions to creators (and facilitators) of learning environments. The very nature of the domain, evolution of technology, and the changing role of instructional designers makes it difficult but essential to keep learning and quite simply, to keep up.

Here is a list of top 30 blogs and websites that Instructional Designers would be interested in. Some of them focus exclusively on how to create better learning experiences. Others offer tips and tricks on how to improve efficiencies or manage clients better. And some explain technological aspects that Instructional Designers should be aware of.

Adventures in Corporate Education by Gina Minks

aLearning Blog by Ellen

Big Dog, Little Dog by Donald Clark

Bozarthzone by Jane Bozarth

Cammy Bean’s Learning Visions by Cammy Bean

Discovery Through eLearning by Tracy Hamilton

E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

e-Learning Authoring Research Blog by Michael Allen

E-Learning Curve Blog by Michael Hanley

e-Learning Leadership Blog by Ethan Edwards

eLearning Roadtrip by Ellen Wagner

eLearning Technology by Tony Karrer

Free as in Freedom by Sumeet Moghe

ID and Other Reflections by Sahana Chattopadhyay

ID Crossroads by John Parsell and John Caputo

Informal Software

Information Is Beautiful by David McCandless

Instructional Design by Example by Janet Clarey

Integrated Learning Services

Jonathan’s ID by Jonathan Atleson

Kapp Notes by Karl Kapp

Learning Conversations by Mark Berthelemy

Making Change by Cathy Moore

Networked Learning Design – Occasional rants by Patrick Dunn

PsyBlog by Jeremy Dean

Synthesizing Education by Aaron Eyler

The eLearning Coach by Connie Malamed

The Rapid eLearning Blog

The Writers Gateway by Rupa Rajagopalan

Understanding Graphics by Connie Malamed

(Shameless insert) And of course there are a few interesting resources on this very blog as well – you can find them under the Instructional Design category: Upside Learning Blog/Instructional Design

I hope you find this list useful.

Do share any more good online resources that you feel could be added to this.

Related Posts:
eLearning Development: Instructional Design Lessons from a Sales Trainer
Three Reasons To Focus On Media Design In Learning
The Ten Commandments of eLearning
Rapid Authoring – Freeform Vs Template Based
IDC India – Games Vs Simulations

via upsidelearning.com

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101 Social Media Tools for Social Media Marketing and More #edtech20 #iste10 #edchat #elearning #web20 #socialmedia

Credit: fredcavazza via Flickr

It doesn’t make sense to jump in and use all new social media tools that come along just because everyone else is or because you think they’re “cool.” No one can really afford to be that unproductive with their time (or if they can, that alone speaks volumes). At Social Implications, we’re big advocates of cutting through the noise by narrowing down the social media tools you use to the ones best suited for your target market or audience.

That said, you can’t choose the best social media tools for your business (or even personal networking) unless you know what’s out there. With that in mind we’ve put together a list of 101 social media tools you should know about. We’ve broken them down for you by category below. Note though that we’re not including some of the biggest staples in social media — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Rather we’ll focus on tools to help you get more out of the sites you’re already using or social media tools that you might not have heard of yet. Links in each section are in no particular order. Enjoy!

Social Networking

There are countless social networks on the Web today, letting you do everything from network with old classmates to joining communities with likeminded folks who share similar hobbies or business interests. But what happens when existing social networks don’t really serve your needs? You can start your own! Whether you’re interested in building a niche social network or one around your brand, here are some tools to help you do that.

Ning — As of July 20th, plans range from $2.95 – 49.95 per month.

GoingOn Community Platform — Emphasis on educational use

BuddyPress — Create a social network on the WordPress platform

Elgg.org — An open source social networking platform

Boonex Dolphin — Feature-rich and free; Prime option also available

SocialGo — Setup a free social network or purchase premium access to monetize your site.

Crowdvine — Build a self-hosted or professionally set up community around your conference or other event.

KickApps – Add social networking capabilities and other social media elements to your existing website.

Snapville – Social networking solution focused on employee and customer engagement

Cisco’s Eos Platform — Social networking and content management platform for the entertainment industry

Blogging

Blogging is one of the older aspects of social media, around even before the “social media” label really took hold. Blogs allow you to keep your customers up-to-date on company news. They allow you to have conversations with your audience. They serve as platform elements for professionals looking to build exposure and gain a solid reader base. They’re used in PR. They’re used in marketing. They’re used as private journals. They’re used to host content sites. They’re even used as business models all on their own. So let’s take a look at some blogging platforms you can use to set up your own new blog. The list below includes both hosted and self-hosted (you need your own hosting account) platforms.

WordPress.com – Free hosted solution

WordPress.org – Free self-hosted blog platform

WordPress MU – Create a multi-user blog network using WordPress.

b2evolution

Blogger

Typepad

Vox

Moveable Type – Commercial

Moveable Type – Open source

LiveJournal — For more personal blogging in most cases

Posterous

Serendipity

Blog Comment Management Tools

Sometimes the comment management tools built into your blog platform just aren’t enough. Here are a couple of extra options you might want to look into either to help you manage comments or encourage more of them.

CommentLuv – WordPress plugin

Disqus

Subscribe to Comments – WordPress plugin

Microblogging Services and Tools

Chances are good that you’ve already heard of Twitter (and are using it). But there are other microblogging options out there, and plenty of tools to help you more efficiently manage your Twitter account to weed out some of that social media noise. Here are some of those tools and services.

Tumbler – Microblogging service

Jaiku — Microblogging service

TweetDeck

HootSuite

TweetStats

Seesmic

Twitterrific

Group Tweet

Friend or Follow — Find out if the people you follow also follow you back.

TwitPic

Tweet Backup

URL Shorteners

Speaking of microblogging services and their limited character counts, let’s take a look at some URL shorteners currently available. These can condense your long URLs (that might not fit in a Tweet or other post) into a much shorter form. Some even allow link stats tracking.

Bit.ly

TinyURL

Cli.gs

Is.gd

doiop.com

SnipURL.com

Forum Software

Like what we traditionally think of as social networks, forums allow us to build communities around a niche, company, product, or anything else we’d like. If you think a forum would be better suited to your audience than a social network setup, then consider one of these forum software options.

vBulletin

PHPBB

Simple Machines Forum (SMF)

Vanilla Forums

MyBB

Invision Power Board

bbPress

Social Bookmarking / Sharing

Social media is about more than conversations. It’s also about empowering members of your community to share what you have to offer, or “vote” if you will. There are several sharing, aggregation, and social bookmarking tools available to let them do that. Here are a few you might want to use or somehow incorporate into your website or blog.

Delicious

Digg

Reddit

StumbleUpon

Sphinn

Slashdot

Newsvine

AddThis

ShareThis

Document, Video, and Photo Sharing Services

Social media encompasses all types of media. Users want to be able to share information, videos, photos, and other images in addition to their thoughts. If you’re one of those users, you might get some use out of the following social media tools.

YouTube

Flickr

Vimeo

Scribd

Picasa Web Albums

DocStoc

MetaCafe

Blip.tv

Daily Motion

PhotoBucket

Online Collaboration

Sometimes being able to share documents online isn’t enough. You need online collaboration tools like the ones listed below where your work group can collectively edit and save documents while you collaborate on projects.

Zoho

Google Docs

BaseCamp

WriteBoard

ReviewBasics (Disclosure: ReviewBasics is a former client of SI’s Jennifer Mattern.)

Podcasting

Podcasting is a sometimes overlooked area of social media. But if your audience could be effectively reached through a podcast or other type of audio show, you might be able to put these podcasting tools to use.

PodBean

BlogTalkRadio

Audacity – Free recording software

Podomatic

Wikis

Love it or hate it, we’ve probably all heard of Wikipedia. But why not create your very own wiki on your company site or related to a niche you love? Pull people together with some of the following wiki software options.

MediaWiki

Confluence

TWiki

BrainKeeper

Online / Social Learning

Social media goes far beyond personal and even business use. It can also be used in education. If you’re with an educational institution or organization, or you’d like to add online courses and other learning materials to your site, these social and online learning tools could come in handy.

Moodle

Blackboard

Articulate e-Learning Software

Joomla Learning Management System (LMS)

Social Media Search

There is a lot of noise in social media that you have to sort through on a regular basis if you want to stay productive. These social media search tools can help.

Technorati

Google Blog Search

Google Alerts

Yahoo! Alerts

Bing’s Social Search

SocialMention.com

Google Social Search

SocialSearch.com SearchWiki

Social Media Monitoring and Metrics

There’s rarely a way to completely and accurately measure social media. Most tools have their faults and most metrics can be manipulated. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the information you can access though. Social media monitoring and metrics-related tools like the ones below can give you a solid snapshot of trends resulting from your social media work.

Twitalyzer

Feedburner – Track RSS subscriber stats.

PostRank

Omniture Site Catalyst

Performancing Blog Metrics

Google Analytics

Compete

Alexa

By no means do these represent all social media tools currently available. Do you have favorites not in this list? Share them in a comment below!

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Social Media Tools

blogs, forums, metrics, microblogging, social media tools, social networks

via socialimplications.com

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Teacher Lucian Duma sharing knowledge about web 2.0 , mLearning , ELEARNING and Social Media around the world .

Web-based Digital Storytelling Tools and Online Interactive Resources | Danny Maas, Emerging Technologies AISI Consultant #edtech20

Important Considerations:

Digital Storytelling Web-based Tools

Online Interactive Websites

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Steve's top 10 #tools #elearning #edchat #iste10

Top 125 Workplace eLearning Posts of 2009 » #eLearning #Learning #edtech20 #edchat #safedchat #iste10

Top 125 Workplace eLearning Posts of 2009

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Anne Fox :: Blog :: Ten Blogs & Podcasts Worth Keeping an Eye on #edtech20 #elearning #edchat #iste10

June 30, 2010

Ten Blogs & Podcasts Worth Keeping an Eye on

Stock media resources for your video courses on Sparkeo – List of free stock photo sites | Sparkeo #web20 #edtech20 #edchat #elearning

10 Global Trends in ICT and Education | A World Bank Blog on ICT use in Education #edtech20 #elearning #safedchat #edchat #iste10

The Top 25 e-Learning Blogs #edchat #edtech20 #elearning #iste10

Twitter users discuss educational issues through Hashtag Chats #edchat #edtech20 #elearning #iste10

30 Top Online Resources For Instructional Designers To Keep Up With | Upside Learning Blog #elearning #edtech20 #iste10 #edchat

101 Social Media Tools for Social Media Marketing and More #edtech20 #iste10 #edchat #elearning #web20 #socialmedia

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