Hi everyone
hard to believe that April is already here…. must be getting old or busy or maybe both 🙂
Anyway, this month has the usual smorgasbord of resources. Another excellent publication from the JISC stable on the design of learning spaces plus some up to the minute reports from the innovating e-learning online conference.
There’s another reminder about ALT-C 2006, a couple of links to evaluation/assessment of online courses and resources, an interesting variation on Wiki sites, mobile learning, a guide to wireless technology, distance learning guides, some links to resources associated with educational games, the amazing map of creativity and of course the odd one out.
There’s no doubt as the resources on the Web increase finding the good stuff gets harder and harder and the realisation that you are never likely to see more than 10% of what’s out there is very sobering. However there are some gems still to be found so don’t give up!
1. Designing spaces for Effective Learning
This publication takes the reader on a ‘walk through’ an educational institution, exploring the relationship between learning technologies and innovative examples of physical space design at each stage of the journey
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/eli_learningspaces.html
Access the download link
While you are contemplating how to design a learning environment which will provide maximum benefit for your students, have a look at the developing up to the minute resources on the JISC e-learning focus site, especially the reports coming in from the Innovating e-learning online conference.
There is some excellent thought provoking stuff here from some well known e-learning celebrities well worth spending some time looking at and absorbing the rich interchanges between the gurus of e-learning worldwide
http://www.elearning.ac.uk/jisconlineconf1
2. THE only must- be- at conference of the year. Make sure your diaries are marked and the bank account primed
3. The map of creativity. Quite an amazing site with a wide range of educational resource links from around the world. Just navigating the interface is fascinating in itself.
http://www.ngf.org.uk/map/map.html
4. Mobile learners. This link is a few years old, but in the context of the rapid developmetn of mobile learning resources its worth reflecting on and considering some of the findngs and proposed outcomes
http://www.nettskolen.com/forskning/55/NKI2001m-learning2.html
5. Into wireless networks? wonder how they are configured and work? This guide from Birmingham in the UK is well worth downloading and distributing to those who want to be up with the play. THIS is a DOWNLOAD
http://www.eee.bham.ac.uk/sharplem/wirelesslanguide.pdf
6. A different kind of Wiki resource aimed at making the creation and maitenance of your Wiki a joy rather than a chore.
7. The Education Arcade dedicated to games with an educational focus.
http://www.educationarcade.org/
and in context a very good and developing attempt to collect literature and links to games in education
http://www.ren-reynolds.com/bibliography.htm
8. Futurelabs handbooks. These handbooks provide some useful guides to emerging and changing learning technologies that have the potential to influence the direction of education at all levels.
http://www.nestafuturelab.org/research/handbooks.htm
9. Assessing the suitability and nature of your distance education course(s) A comprehensive reosurce with an American bent, but non-the-less some very useful hints ,ideas and suggestions relating to assessment of all kinds.
http://www.netnet.org/instructors/design/assessment.htm
10. Distance education at a glance. A number of very useful guides from the University of Idaho (13 in all !) on a wide range of aspects relating to distance education. There’s some good stuff here . worth exploring and bookmarking for future reference. Click on guide numbers 2-13 from the bottom of guide 1
http://www.uidaho.edu/eo/dist1.html
and the odd one out?
11. The Wiki ‘how to manual’ which anyone can edit. Try clicking on the how to write an article and see where it leads. Some commonsense advice is sure to come to the fore
extract from the site
“wikiHow is a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest how-to manual. With your contributions, we can create a free resource that helps people by offering clear, concise solutions to the problems of everyday life. wikiHow currently contains 6206 articles written, edited, and maintained primarily by volunteers”.
http://wiki.ehow.com/Main-Page
Next edition of e-LearningWatch will be in May, until then , happy surfing and implementing some new ways to improve learning opportunities for your students 🙂
—
Richard Elliott
E-learning Watch
http://elearnwatch.falkor.gen.nz/
Auckland New Zealand
‘Learning in the Driver’s seat, Technology turning the wheels’
Member of the Programme Committee for ALT-C 2006