MoodleCaster's Podcast

It’s finally here- MoodleCaster’s Podcast- Woot-Woot!!

Brought to you by 2 middle school teachers who give ideas on how-to use Moodle’s elements in your teaching, as well as the technical ‘how-to’ of using the tool. The tips Dave & Scott give can easily be adapted for any k12 or even college courses.
Moodlecast #2 has great ideas about how-to use Moodle Forum Discussions in your classes.

Subscribe to learn more about using Moodle in your learning environment.

IMS GLobal Learning Consortium- 2007 Technology Trends Report

The IMS Global Learning Consortium recently released their 2007 Learning Technology and Trends Report based on research from the last 2 years that looked at trends in how new technologies are being used, as well as the technologies themselves.

“Desire for Interactivity, Rich Media, and a High Percentage of Likely Course Management System Switchers Indicate Coming Changes in Educational Technology”

The report findings did not surprise me -thinking about all the new web 2.0 tools, blogs, wikipedia, podcasts that are available for educators to use as learning tools.

“Among the course management systems, eCollege, ANGEL, and Moodle scored highest in satisfaction. All three rated higher than Blackboard or WebCT, the market share leaders. 16% of the respondents appeared to be likely to switch course management systems in the coming 12 months.

I was a Blackboard user and real resistant to using Moodle 3 years ago when I moved to my current position. But now there are days I could probably sell Moodle, if it were for sale….

Read the full report when you have more time….

Adding Technology To Enhance Student Learning

With all the information and new web-based tools on the web today it can seem overwhelming to faculty who are inexperienced in 'the art of technology' to know where to start to use technology to enhance student learning. This recent article available from Educause, "Think Small! A Beginner's Guide to Using Technology to Promote Learning" provides many suggestions on how to start small to get big results when using technology in your course curriculum.

Another suggestion to start small to incorporate technology is to extend your class discussions into the forum in your Blackboard or Moodle course site. Discussions started in class can be continued in your online course site using the discussion forum option. For instance, your class is having a heated discussion on 'ethics in the media' and class time ends. Why not continue the discussion in an online forum discussion? This exercise can be done regularly with the topics of class posted in the discussion forum. Then after class students can continue discussing the topic in depth for extending learning outside the classroom walls. It's a small step, but a good use of technology to enhance student learning.

Read the article and promise yourself to take one small step.....

YackPack - Added Features

A reader recently commented about our Go2web20.com post:

"I'm fascinated at what these increasingly accessible tools will enable people with learning difficulties to do in terms of sharing and collaborating with others."

Web 2.0 tools do open up the web to many people who are learning impaired. One tool for you to check out more is Yahoo! - YackPack-

Yahoo! recently redesigned YackPack and added features such as live voice IM and audio messaging. They also added bigger & better icons, bigger pictures, better resolution, and instant help about the icons in YackPack.

The Web2.0 has a palette of tools to assist the learning disabled. Good Luck Sean

A Neomillennial Learning Approach

A recent article from the International Journal of Education & Development using ICT, A Neomillennial Learning Approach: Helping non-traditional learners studying at a distance” by M.D. Sankey and the University of Southern Queensland tells that todays students are demanding a change in delivery of their distance learning courses to fit their new millennial learning styles.

The advances in technology and the availability of multimedia resources have spurred the possibility of "multimodal" delivery.

I have always thought it would be the students who would force change upon those who are so comfortable wearing their old shoes...read on.

Web 2.0 Reloaded

Try Go2Web20 for 1 stop shopping and find the Web 2.0 tools to fit your need or your wildest imagination.

Go2Web20, maintained by TechCrunch, is the most extensive collection of Web 2.0 tools. It's now safe to say the Web 2.0 has more tools that we could ever use or ever begin to learn how to use.

But beware if you try one, you will want to try more....

The Bob & Rob Show- ESL Podcast

For ESL faculty here's a podcast to use in your class....The Bob and Rob Show with an audio podcast to subscribe to along with lesson plans for your use.

My favorite lesson is #68- Chocolate

eNotes

Add eNotes to your del.icio.us site. eNotes is an extensive collection of lesson plans, research materials, and study guides.

It's loaded with resources for Literature, Health, Science, Law & Politics, Arts, and other academic content areas.

Thanks Katherine, great find.

Web 2.0 -The Machine is Us/ing Us

The Web 2.0 has changed the way we use the Internet to share, collaborate, and exchange information. Watch this great little ditty from Kansas State University and see how...

WIkis for Teaching & Learning

Wikis as learning tools- participatory media…read Piotr Konieczny’s Wikis and Wikipedia as a Teaching Tool to see how you can use this collaborative web-based tool with your students..

The Grand Wiki project of all right now is Penguin Books UK who just launched A Million Penguins, a collaborative, wiki-based creative writing exercise. This 6-week project allows participants to create a novel combining the creative ability of all involved.

Join the online experiment, expand your students imagination. Your students will benefit from participatory media, where they become active participants in the learning process.

Word Spy

Use Word Spy for Buzzword Bingo with your students no matter what subject you’re teaching. It's a cross-curriculum game to get students to think creatively about what they are learning and makes a great anticipatory class activity.

Word Spy "is devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases. These aren't "stunt words" or "sniglets," but new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.”

I am so glad someone has given a name to what I have been experiencing for years- “attentional blinks”...

According to Paul McFedries, author of the book “Word Spy- The Word Lover’s Guide to Modern Culture” - the Word Spy website adds new words used today that give us a snapshot of modern culture. .."it’s a mosaic of new words.”

Woot Woot! (*woot not found on Word Spy)

The Case Files from The Franklin Institute

From a reader, "For teachers interested in the history of science and technology, The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia is offering online access to primary source documents from its collection. There's also a monthly podcast series associated with the collection."

Check out The Case Files, a unique collection on the history of science and technology. Teachers could use these resources for a project-based activity, such as creating a timeline of the history of computers in relationship to inventions and advances in the field of science. A project of this type would take learning to the next level by combining researching for facts and developing critical thinking skills.

Also listen to From the Case Files, a series of audiocasts provided monthly to hear interesting stories about scientists. Audio makes great conversation starters as well as providing information to today's digital natives.

Thanks Karen for sharing this site with our readers.

More Searching....

On the topic of Search Engines – check out these two articles, “The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines” and “A Look at the Next Generation of Search.”

These articles provide exciting insight into how the collaborative works of many produce results for others to share without leaving their home or office!

Searching More Effectively

At a time when “just google-it” has become a household verb, we tend to neglect other searching tools that might lead us to exactly what we're searching for.

Today with the glut of information on the web it’s even more important to learn how to obtain specific results in our quest to gather information, process information, and use the information we have found.

So try these sites to find exactly what you're searching for:

-> Internet Tutorials
-> Noodletools-Search Strategies
-> WoW Website Directory
-> Search Engine Directory
-> Asian Studies Search Engines
-> UC Berkeley-The BEST Search Engines
-> CrossEngines