Hello everyone
marching on in we have a range of links and a variety of subjects to explore. I have been experimenting with a couple of search engines and I think they are well worth trying out. Top 10 tools from the experts is always worth perusing, even if it’s to discover an unknown tool.
Also included are sites with new and interesting Web applications, one highlighting easy to use videoconferencing, a couple giving you a chance to compare Wikis, Podcatchers and online Word processors, a couple for professional development, interactive physics (must be for you, lovely subject), a site to organise yourself and others, conferences plus the odd one out.
April will be upon us very soon, so until then, keep ahead of your colleagues and exploit the potential of e-learning to it’s maximum.
!. A couple of search engines that do things very differently. One is quite visually different, the other has a familiar interface. I found both to be prety good at finding things I wanted to know about. The tab system in the ‘search crystal’ engine adds an interesting dimension.
and
http://www.searchcrystal.com/home.html
2. TOP 10 TOOLS FOR LEARNING 2008. It’s always interesting to see what others think are the best things since the proverbial sliced bread. Some degree of agreement and some interesting differences. See for yourself and find out if you are up with the best.
‘Here are the learning professionals from around the world who contributed their Top 10 Tools for Learning 2008 in January. We used these as well as the contributors in February to build the Top 100 Tools for Learning – Spring 2008 list’.
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/2008-01.html
You might want to wander around this site and investigate the ‘e-learning Handbook’, a ‘living’ document with lots of useful stuff.
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/handbook/
3. Simplespark: ‘Cool stuff for your Life Online’ its says on the site and there is certainly a huge range of interesting/different Web applications in various categories to peruse and perhaps experiment with.
4.Wikimatrix: This is an interesting site that enables you to compare the functionality of quite a big range of ‘Wiki’ applications; I never knew there were so many out there.
You can also compare podcatchers, forums and Weblogs (access the links at the top of the page)
5. Compare 13 online word processors at Mashable.
Extract from the site:
‘We’ve lined up a mixture of 13 paid and free word processing alternatives for you to give a try, and hopefully find one that meets your needs’.
Worth having a look through of what’s on offer. Some certainly have some impressive functionality.
http://mashable.com/2008/02/11/13-word-processors/
6. A resource for academic staff at Charles Darwin University
‘This site has been developed by CDU’s Teaching and Learning Development Group. It has been designed to support Higher Education and Vocational and Technical Education lecturers to develop their teaching and learning practice and provide stimulating learning contexts to all our students. On this site you can find information, ideas, links and resources from a range of sources. We hope this is a useful tool to support your professional practice’.
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/t4l/elearning/implementing.html
7. Technology Enabled Active Learning from MIT. Physics may not be your subject but this is a fascinating and engaging way to teach the concepts and principles.
‘We are using visualizations in teaching physics interactively in freshman courses at MIT (classes of 500 students). We combine desktop experiments with visualizations of those experiments to ‘make the unseen seen’.
http://web.mit.edu/8.02t/www/802TEAL3D/teal_tour.htm
8. Professional Development Modules. I thought this was a very interesting and useful site. The more you explore the more resources you have access to; there’s a lot here.
If you are involved in creating questionnaires and/or interview formats, spend some time here. I think you will find it worth while.
Use the drop down menu at the top of the page to wander around.
Extract from site:
‘The professional development modules are designed for users who:
want an introduction to all the major components of an evaluation
are novice evaluators and want to learn more/self-instruct
are experienced evaluators and want expertise/advice in a targeted area
The modules present step-by-step strategies with scenarios and case studies of how the strategies can be applied to specific evaluation projects. Sometimes the modules also present exercises in which the user is provided with the opportunity to apply discrete technical skills that are taught as part of the strategy’.
http://oerl.sri.com/module/index.html
9. ooVoo: The latest in videoconferencing, Very impressive.
Extract from the site:
‘ooVoo is the next evolution in online communication — a remarkably easy way to have a face-to-face video conversation with friends, family or colleagues, no matter where they are in the world.
ooVoo is remarkably easy to use: easy to download, easy to install, and best of all:
it’s FREE!’
If you get excited by ooVoo, read Robin Good’s overview of functionality etc. It’s worth perusing.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2008/02/21/video_conferencing_as_it_should.htm
10. SproutLiner: This site has been around for a while and is now open source. It enables you to manage your ‘to-do’ lists and organise and prioritise your projects. It also enables you to assign tasks to team members. Uses drag and drop to help you do the organising. It’s FREE and you don’t need to register. Quite a novel tool.
11. Conferences
11.1 ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide
9-11 September 2008, Leeds, UK
Third Call for papers and abstracts
*PLEASE NOTE our deadline has been extended to midnight, 9th March 2008*
Keynote speakers:
* David Cavallo, Chief Learning Architect for One Laptop per Child, and
Head of the Future of Learning Research Group at MIT Media Lab;
* Dr Itiel Dror, Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience at the
University of Southampton;
* Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, Karolinska Institute,
Sweden, and Director of the Gapminder Foundation.
*Important note*
Some projects or teams will have more to report in September 2008 than
they can summarise in an abstract written in February 2008. To take
account of this, the Co-Chairs of the Conference Committee emphasise
that: “in judging proposals, ALT Reviewers will take an understanding
attitude regarding proposals referring to or reporting on work taking
place between now and the date of the conference”.
Proposals should address up to three of the conference dimensions:
global or local; institutional or individual; pedagogy or technology;
access or exclusion; open or proprietary; private or public; for the
learner or by the learner.
For more detail on these, see:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/papers.html
The online submission system for ALT-C 2008 is now open at:
https://alt.conference-services.net/
Prior to submitting please read the Guidelines for Research Papers and
for Abstracts :
http://www.alt.ac.uk/guidelines_papers.html
and
download the Research Paper Template if you intend to to submit a
research paper.
Key dates:
Submissions open 14 December 2007
*Submissions close 9th March 2008*
Presenters’ registration deadline: 6 June 2008
Early bird registration deadline: 30 June 2008
Registrations close: 15 August 2008
For sponsorship and exhibition opportunities got to:
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/sponsor_information.html
or contact Hayley Willis, Events Administrator:
ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide
9-11 September 2008, Leeds, England
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/
11.2 EUNIS 2008: 24th – 27th June 2008
is the 14th congress in a series of conferences within the framework of the European University Information Systems Organisation (EUNIS).
The 4-day congress (incl. tutorials) is an opportunity to share experiences with IT professionals from higher education in other countries, to attend several presentations on topics relevant to the current issues in IT, to visit EUNIS sponsors and learn more about the latest developments in the field. More than 370 people attended last year’s congress.
EUNIS 2008 focuses on visions for IT in higher education. The themes for EUNIS 2008 are:
IT strategy and governance
IT infrastructure and integrated systems
Identity management, federation, security and shared services
IT support for globalisation and mobility
Portals and student services
Virtual libraries and repositories for research and teaching
E-learning: Organisation and implementation
Educational tools and technologies
Vision IT for next generation universities
Paper and abstract submission
Abstract and workshop submission is open (Papers and abstracts menu).
Deadline for abstract submission: January 31st 2008.
Deadline for poster, podcast and full and short paper: May 15th 2008.
Workshop proposals
EUNIS 2008 welcomes proposals for workshops about use of IT in higher education. The workshops take place from 14.00 – 17.00 on the 24th of june 2008. Please e-mail your proposal to info@eunis.dk (maximum one page).
11.3 ASCILITE 2008: The ascilite 2008 conference theme is: Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology?
When:
Nov 30 – Dec 3
Where:
Deakin University
Burwood Campus
221 Burwood Highway
Burwood Victoria 3125
Details on paper submissions are yet to appear, however mark your diary to be there.
There’s a new video of the venue on the Website if you want to see where you will be going.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/theme.htm
12. The odd one out: Have fun creating your own cartoon.
Pixton™ is an online user-generated comic strip. Without having to draw, people of all ages can share their ideas, opinions, and stories, publishing them instantly to a worldwide web audience.
‘Pixton is free to use. Anyone can view comics that are rated as suitable for a general audience. By signing up online, you can compose your own Pixton characters, dialog, scenes, and comics with an easy-to-use editor, as well as rate content and submit comments. You retain copyright of original content submitted on the website. Remixable comics are subject to an open-use license, within the context of Pixton’.
http://www.pixton.com/features
Richard Elliott
eLearningWatch
Auckland
New Zealand
‘Learning in the Driver’s seat, Technology turning the Wheels’