Hi everyone
well January went like a rocket so I thought I’d better get the February edition out before it overtakes me as well. This edition has an interesting site (Oz eTeachers’ Wikiway to the World of e-Learning) developed by UTS in Aussie land. Based on a Wiki format it is an excellent example of a collection of educational resources that will grow as a result of practitioner input. There’s already some good stuff to explore and although most is aimed at the K12 a lot of what is presented can be applied across all sectors of education. Well done Matthew and colleagues :-).
Another site which provides access to lots of ‘free’ resources is maintained by Leigh Blackall. He has been around for a while, visit his home site for info on his activities
http://leighblackall.wikispaces.com/
and I rate his contribution to elearning up with the best. He is often in the cybercompany of Alan Levine
and Stephen Downes
another couple of stalwart supporters, thinkers and challengers in the world of elearning.
Leigh has just release his book TALO and you can either buy it or download it for free. Leigh has also been recently appointed to a position at Otago Polytechnic in the wilds of Dunedin NZ.Their gain without a doubt and best wishes go to him and his partner. Hope the dogs like the new life in the
‘highlands’!
Also include in this edition is a link to a ‘free’ Wiki creation site, another reminder about
ALT-C 2006, an oldie but a goodie on issues around online plagiarism, what’s all the commotion about ‘Web 2.0’ , some useful online teaching cases from Deakin Uni….and the odd one out.
1. Teach and Learn Online (TALO) Produced by Leigh Blackall , this is an excellent collection of a wide variety of resources, opinions, comments and gems in the world of online learning. There has to be something here for you 🙂 Buy it if you can, download it as a must.
http://ia300802.eu.archive.org/3/items/Teach_and_Learn_Online_2005/teachandlearnonline2005.pdf
2. Oz eTeachers’ Wikiway to the World of e-Learning
A Bridge to Possibilities in K-12 Education
Extract from the site:
“This guide is primarily designed to assist prospective Australian K-12 teachers. It is not designed to be an exhaustive library of K-12 sites but a guide to a cross-section of areas in the field of K-12 ICT in Education. Where possible, Australian content is placed at the top of any section and free or very cheap resources are given priority”.
Check out the freeteachtools 🙂
http://ozeteacher.wikispaces.com
3. Ever wanted to create your own Wiki and share with your friends and colleagues?
PBWiki is very easy to use and you can create a personal Wiki in minutes. I have used Wikis to manage professional development workshops and for group related activities. They need little expertise to create and run but can be powerful tools in learning and teaching online.
4. ‘scuse me for repeating myself but this has got to be the place to be in 2006. Submit the paper, get with the brains trust and be there in September: ALT-C 2006 in Edinburgh promises to be the best yet. With luminaries such as Ron Oliver behind the scenes what else would you expect 🙂
5. Plagiarism for some reason, always conjures up gruesome pictures of the Black Death and thousands of locusts… however in the context of education in never cease to get the attention it doesn’t deserve. Sometime ago an excellent paper was produced along with some even more useful resources on a different slant to the cause and effect of plagiarism and perhaps a better way of approaching and dealing with student ‘misbehaviour’. You may have already perused the pages but it’s alway worth revisiting.
http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/plagiary.htm
6.Tim O’reilly explains what Web 2.0 is all about. you will either be a convert or a sceptic. I think it’s a good place to do the moving forward bit 🙂 There’s some interesting comparisons provoking time to reflect on what was and what is and is gonna be!
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
7. It’s always good to see some evaluation of online teaching and Deakin Uni in Aussieland has produced some useful material based on a number of online teaching activities. Worth a read and exploration.
http://www.deakin.edu.au/teachlearn/cases/index.htm
8. The odd one out?.. Maybe not, but it makes for interesting exploration to see who is doing what and where in the Web 2.0 environment. NZ’ers take note, we don’t have a flag 🙁 Lots to see and do here and too many resources to describe or even spend time evaluating. Go for it 🙂
http://www.fourio.com/web20map/
That’s it folks this time around. The outcome of more e-watching will be divulged in March
Regards
Richard
Richard Elliott
Director, E-learning Watch
‘Learning in the Driver’s seat, Technology turning the wheels’
Member of the Programme Committee for ALT-C 2006