mLearning in the EU

The department of Learning and Teaching at The National College of Ireland (NCI) has conducted a research project on Flash-based mLearning using a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).


The research summary contains a case study of an open source software dubbed Claroline. This software is a web-based course management system which allowed students to download course materials onto Motorola smart phones. Also included in the summary are two video (requires Windows Media Player) presentations, one an interview with Michele Ryan on NCI's involvement in multimedia literacy, and the other is a case study of mLearning at Larkin College.


Another mLearning resource, geared for members of the European Union, is the Leonardo Da Vinci Project Online. The stated goals for the project are "to provide systems and courses for mobile learning and to trial them with real students."



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Teaching for Understanding

The Understanding by Design Exchange is a cooperative website devoted to the development and peer review of curriculum units. Jay McTighe and Eliot Seif have included an article titled, Indicators of Teaching for Understanding, which includes a list to guide classroom observation, coaching or mentoring, peer visitation, self-assessment, and professional development.

iPod and Podcasting in Education

George Lucas Education Foundation >> Edutopia

Pod People: "It's a sleek, sexy must-have for the MP3 set, but Apple's iPod--a digital music player in fancy dress--is more than just a gadget for tuning out nagging adults. With the help of some clever software and creative teachers, the device can get kids engaged in their schoolwork--and help them express themselves..."

This article also includes a link to a student website in Virginia where students create podcasts as part of their class blog.

podcasting educational podcasting podosphere educational blogging

TrueScores

The TrueScores blog, hosted by Pearson Education, contains pointers and perspectives on psychometrics and test and measurement practices. This blog, launched in May 2005, is just getting off the ground, but already has some very informative information on assessment and educational measurement.

This blog takes a balanced approach, discussing both the pros and cons of the chosen post topic. For example, a recent post on computer-based testing includes a discussion on how computer tests and paper tests must be shown to be comparable if they are to be given together.

Text-messaging skills can score SAT points

A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor challenges the widely held belief that IM and other forms of "Internet English" usage among neomillenial teens has eroded and weakened their writing skills.

The article cites Al Filreis, director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania who points out:

"People are so intent on seeing contemporary popular culture as bad, as lesser, that they can't sort out certain ways in which young people today, because of the Internet revolution, are better at what we used to do."

Filreis goes on to state that he's seen "the quality of student writing at the high school level [go] way up, and this is explained by the fact that they do more writing than they ever did."

The new SAT places a stronger emphasis on writing skills, and now there is evidence that perhaps all those hours teens spend IM-ing with their friends may result in higher SAT scores.

Interactive Online Museum: 1704 French-Indian War

Perusing the Internet today provides many opportunities for virtual field trips to Online Museums. Take your students to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum or to view an Online Art Collection.

Or check out Raid on Deerfield: the Many Stories of 1704 and find out many little know facts about the French Indian War of 1704. This site offers audio & video files, paintings, and a historical time line.

With more and more of these museums online you don't have to travel too far to provide learning opportunities for your students or yourself.

Using Podcasts to Teach Language

This story in the BBC World Edition is a good example of how podcasts can be used to teach foreign language skills. In this case Zimbabwe's main language, Shona. This particular podcast was started by a British man who wanted to learn more about his Zimbabwean wife's native language and culture.

This is a good case study for any teacher interested in integrating podcasts into their foreign language curriculum.

• Shona podcast

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Podcasts for Learning a Language

Podcasts provide an added value for learning online by providing audio files for listeners. Hearing the spoken word is most important in learning a new language and that can be easily accomplished with MP3 files and a computer. Of couse having an MP3 player or Ipod makes the learning experience mobile.

Learn a Song Podcast offers downloadable MP3 files that can be listened to at the learners convenience making EFL/ESL resources readily available for learners of English and teachers of English as a Second Language.

Many more ESL Listening: Podcast sites offer similar podcasts, try Listening to Poetry or Read along as you listen to a book, these sites are geared to early English language learners, but the idea behind listening and repeating lyrics engages the learner in their learning, making the learning experience fun!

Technorati Tags: education+technology education ipod+education education+podcasting podcast podcasting

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots."

Read on >>>

University of Alabama Uses Blogs to Recruit

"Would it have made your decision to attend the University of Alabama easier if you had known exactly what kind of problems awaited you your freshman year? Better yet, would it have helped to know how other freshmen dealt with all the difficulties that first year students encounter?

The University is betting that reading a blog written by freshman students will help boost enrollment, and make potential students comfortable with college life before setting foot on campus. For this reason, UA undergraduate admissions created "BamaLogs," which launched this semester."



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Experiencing War (Voices of War): Stories from the Veterans History Project (Library of Congress)

Recently I had the opportunity to meet a WWII Veteran who survived the Battle of Saipan as he retold the story of his 23 days of survival during the invasion and the great loss of other soldiers lives that he experienced. Throughout history stories have been told and passed from one generation to the next. The web will now to keep these stories alive for generations to come, written as well as in audio format, thanks to new technology.

Experiencing War (Voices of War): Stories from the Veterans History Project (Library of Congress) is becoming a 'treasure trove' of narratives, stories retelling the personal accounts of people who actually lived through the conflicts and tumultuous times of WWII. If you know someone who lived during these times and have stories to tell, help them send their recollections to make this collection even better. It is also a great resource to add to many curriculums from Social Sciences to English. What better way to learn than through other's experiences?

Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators

For years I have been going to this site and everytime I am amazed at the wealth of information & resources linked from Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators

Today I was looking for resources on Rubrics & Assessment and found many resources that are not only valuable in assessing student classroom learning, but these resources would also be valuable is evaluating and assessing whether courses are designed appropriately (e-learning or Face-to-Face) and whether programs are doing what they should be doing.

Being accountable for our students learning and showing our accountability to outsiders can be easily done through sources on the web and new technology.

Englishcaster

Ipods are really proving to be a useful technology tool in academia. Podcasts are audioblogs, posted or uploaded to a site that allows users to listen to podcasts whenever or wherever the listener chooses. Podcasts can easliy be played on any computer, but Ipods or any MP3 player make the podcasts portable. Now studying English can be as easy as listening to music.

Listen to Englishcaster, it is a podcast site for people who want to study English. This site is developed by an ESL/EFL university instructor in Japan who is attempting to gather all the podcasts of this type in one location, making it simple for teachers and students of the English Language to create or locate audio broadcasts that will help students 'hear' what the language sounds like as they study.

Great idea for integrating a technology tool into the curriculum that students are already using in their leisure time!

Cmap Tools

Constructing knowledge isn't a task that takes place inside four walls and according the latest brain research on learning many factors are involved, including relating knowledge to prior experiences, connecting bits of knowledge from repeated encounters and even how much sleep a person gets are all involved in "How People Learn." One method to help students construct knowledge is through concept mapping and CMAP Tools is offering a free program to help users contruct, navigate and share knowledge.

According to eSchoolnews "A research institute in Pensacola, Fla., is taking concept-mapping software designed in part to preserve scientists' knowledge and is giving it to schools worldwide at no cost, as a tool to help children learn."

This could rival Inspiration Software a similar tool used in many k-12 school districts. I don't see this tool replacing the Inspiration in k-12 areas, but I see many CMAP possibilties for use in the higher education environment. I recently used Inspiration in a grant writing proposal and really liked the ease of taking my ''mind-map' and rolling in into a MS Word document as a ".gif". It is a very nice feature, but I'm going to check out CMAP's features and see how they compare.

Quotes & Interactive Timelines

Sounds like an odd pair, doesn't it? But I often have a need to add a quote to one of my articles or a grant proposal, so bookmark sbrowning.com for more than an ample sufficiency of quotes and as an added surprize check out "Who What When: Interactive Historial Timelines" on the same site. Unfortunately the timelines don't work on a 'mac'.

Students could find this a very useful resource for writing biographies and research papers. So it's worth sharing this site with your students or to keep for your own reference work.

Identity & Online Community

"The experience of participating in a story, as teller or audience, is typically that of being caught up in it while it is being told...Stories convey meaning about the social context and identity of the teller and audience. However, stories also have an effect on that identity and context." {John McLeod}

This quote has me reflecting about online communities and the web, especially in an e-learning and web-based training context. As you *join* online communities, it's important to view the exchange between members of the learning community as "participating in a story" of sorts where the members are writing the "script" using asynchronous threads in a newsgroup or via sychronous technologies such as instant messaging.

Sometimes you are the storyteller, and sometimes you are the audience. A shift between active and passive participation in the community. Ultimately, the lines blur, and it becomes a symbiotic relationship.

Finally, think about the effect that these "stories" have on both the identity and context of the information shared in the learning community and how these factors effect your own participation.

Technorati Tags: education+technology education online+communities learning+communities identity

Digital Messaging Resources

MULTIMEDIA EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE FOR LEARNING & TEACHING ONLINE (MERLOT): An online collection of multimedia resources for students and teachers in the higher education setting. Links to online learning materials are collected here along with annotations such as peer reviews and assignments.

PARACHAT: "ParaChat to enables real-time communication on your web site for a host of applications, including corporate interaction, moderated events, distance education, visitor retention, customer service, dating and romance, entertainment, and family fun. ParaChat easily embeds into a page on your own web site, and requires no additional software, downloads or plug-ins to use."

A REALLY SIMPLE CHAT (ARSC): A free and easy to handle web based online chat.