Well here we are in August and I hate to mention the rain so I won’t in case Auckland floats away. You could say we are having a bad spell of ‘whether’.
The more one searches the Web the more one realises that what is discovered is only the tip of the iceberg. Even with several search engines working overtime it’s a titanic operation to get the icing on the cake. However a few gems have revealed themselves some of which I hope you will enable you to navigate to useful educational resources.
In this posting there is a nice learning tools site from UBC in Canada, a useful site on how to use Google Apps, online courses which can be licensed for use at your place, grammar and writing, images for the health professionals, elearning papers and a mobile learning journal, web 2.0 again, an interesting citation site, a new search engine (a challenger to Google ?), a new Website from Tony Bates plus Conferences and the odd one out.
September posting might be a bit late out of the blocks as I will be at ALT -C and elsewhere.
1. Learning Tools: Some useful free tools available for you to use.
Extract from the site:
‘Welcome to Learning Tools, from UBC Arts ISIT. The e-learning tools listed here are publicly available for academic use, within and outside the University of British Columbia. Periodically, Arts IS releases new tools to this site, so please check back in the future to see what’s new. You are invited to explore these exciting new learning tools, and make free use of the learning objects they generate for educational or research purposes’.
http://www.learningtools.arts.ubc.ca/
2. Epigeum: Provides a number of higher education courses which can be licensed by any educational organisation. In theory using their courses is far more cost effective than creating your own. Some innovative methods are used to design the course. Have a look at the snippets from the Research Skills online. Couild be that here is are a number of novel and innovative alternativesto doing all the hard work yourself.
Extract from the site:
‘Epigeum is a leading provider of online skills training for universities and associated research groups. Established as a spin-out company from Imperial College London, our mission is to develop high-quality courses for staff and students alike’.
3. Google Apps how to: Google continues to refine its suite of online applications and this site provides a very good explanation of the different apps and how to use them effectively and for your benefit. Easy to follow narration.
Extract from the site:
‘Google Apps brings together essential services to help your business, school, group or family communicate and collaborate more effectively.
These services are powerful, easy to set up, require little-to-no maintenance, and are available for free.
Everything is unified by the Start Page, a central place for you and other users to preview your inboxes and calendars, access essential content, and search the web’.
http://services.google.com/apps/resources/overviews/welcome/topicWelcome/index.html
4. Web 2.0 for Educators: There are a huge number of blogs out there which provide advice and insights into how to use the ubiquitous Web 2.0 applications. This one has some interesting posting with advice on how to use wikis, blogs , writing tools, audio files plus a list of useful tools.
http://itcboisestate.wordpress.com/
5. Podcasting and Blogging, to blog or not to blog that is the question: Clicking on the buttons on front page of this site will provide you with lots of useful information and tips and how to podcast.
http://teachers.ocps.net/lienj/podcasting/index.htm
6. Son of Citation Machine: Is an easy to use online system that enables the user to enter the details of a resource and then create an appropriate citation in a number of formats.
Extract from the site:
‘Citation Machine is an interactive web tool designed to assist high school, college, and university students, their teachers, and independent researchers in their effort to respect other people’s intellectual properties’.
Do note that you will need to register before you can use the tool
7. The guide to Grammar and Writing: A veritable mine of information to ensure your students (and maybe even you) write your essays and material as they should be wrote.
Just click on the Index button to view the vast amount of useful guides, and information and then explore and use.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
8.Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (JIM). Latest edition of the International just released.
If you are interested in the rise and rise of mobile technologies in education, peruse the latest edition of JIM for some inspiration. The Role of Podcasts in Student Learning looks interesting.
http://online-journals.org/i-jim/issue/current
9.Elearning papers: A wide range of papers are published here in relation to the use of elearning across most of the education sectors, commercial and different communities. Papers are published five times a year and the latest are now available from the site
‘eLearning Papers is a digital publication created as part of the elearningeuropa.info portal. The portal is an initiative of the European Commission to promote the use of multimedia technologies and Internet at the service of education and training’.
http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?lng=en&page=fix&id=2
10.Health on the Net Foundation: This site has a wealth of images and information relating to health and disease. It uses a three step process to identify the resources you wish to view. This site would be a good addition to any health and medical related courses. Try : diseases, cardiovascular and myocardial infarction. Nice, clear animation.
You can be lead astray if you have an interest in biochemistry and start to search.
http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/
AND
if you want more stuff for the students wander over to and peruse
http://www.mic.ki.se/MEDIMAGES.html
and maybe then get lost in the haematology Atlas
http://www.hematologyatlas.com/principalpage.htm
11. The world’s biggest (and best) search engine is launched ?
Give it a try. It’s certainly very different and so gar I’ve been impressed. Enter ‘ pedagogy of elearning’ in the search field and even follow the link to Feedraider
12. elearning and distance education resources: The new personal resources Website of Tony Bates. Tony has put a lot of effort into designing his new site. It’s easy to navigate has many great resources and has an area for collaboration between erudite educators such as yourself.
Well worth perusing and maybe contributing to.
13. Conferences.
13.1 ALT-C 2008: Rethinking the digital divide
9-11 September 2008, Leeds, UK
ONLINE REGISTRATION: NOTE the closing date
Registrations close: 15 August 2008
http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2008/registering.html
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.
Key dates:
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/
13.2 Elliot Masie’s invitation to be part of Learning 2008, October 26-29 Orlando Florida.
13.3 ASCILITE 2008: The ascilite 2008 conference theme is: Hello! Where are you in the landscape of educational technology?
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/index.htm
When:
Nov 30 – Dec 3
Where: Deakin University Burwood Campus
221 Burwood Highway
Burwood Victoria 3125
Call for Papers:
You are invited to develop proposals for full papers, concise papers, posters and workshops for ascilite 2008. The submission deadlines for all papers and proposals can be found at this link:
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/cfpdeadlines.htm
Registration.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/melbourne08/register.htm
13.4 Innovating e-Learning online conference 2008:Learning in a Digital Age – Are we prepared?
This is the next online conference in the very successful series initiated by JISC. Join with the rest of your international colleagues and enjoy some challenging and productive discussion and insights into e-learning at the frontier of education.
Venue Online conference
Date 4-7 November 2008
‘Themes for Innovating e-Learning 2008 focus on the productive and energising tension between the tried and tested and the wholly innovative. e-Learning may now have established a foothold in learning and teaching, but are the demands of delivering the curriculum restricting its innovative potential? How can we plan to ensure the best possible e-enhancement of learning in the future?’
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elpconference08
13.5 The MoodleMoot NZ08 in Napier HAwkes Bay. THE place to be seen.
8th October Workshops:
1. Developers workshop with Martin Dougiamas
2. Graphics and Themes with Julian Ridden
3. Moodle for new Teachers with HRD.
9th-10th October – conference days – Technical, General, and Teaching streams.
Excellent location for conference dinner Thursday 9th – The Old Church
Hosted by Eastern Institute of Technology in Napier, Hawkes Bay.
Early bird registration is now open! Make sure you are there!
13.6 The New Zealand eFest 2008 – Connected Learning
will return to it’s original September time slot this year, but shift from the traditional Wellington venue to Auckland. Dates and Location: 8, 9 & 10 September at SkyCity Auckland Convention Centre.
14. The odd one out: Lit2Go This collection of children’s literature is a part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse and is funded by a grant from the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Instruction and Innovation.
There are lots of old favourites here and you don’t have to be a child to enjoy them .
Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. You can:
Download the files to your Mp3 player and listen on the go,
Listen to the Mp3 files on your computer,
View the text on a webpage and read along as you listen,
Print out the stories and poems to make your own book.
Richard Elliott
The Eternal Macademic (sans iPhone, as yet)
Auckland
New Zealand