Internet Technologies for Learning
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Microsoft Education - Using Tablet PC: A Guide for Educators:
"Stay mobile in the classroom, office, or at home with instant access to the information you normally have on your desktop or laptop PC. Work and teach in a whole new way - connect your Tablet PC to a projector to create the ultimate whiteboard or chalkboard. Grade papers the same way you do today but with digital annotation features. Work with the Tablet PC in slate mode so that you're free to move around the room to facilitate collaboration. The Tablet PC allows you to work as you choose, using digital ink and pen or keyboard and mouse. "
Microsoft Education - Windows XP 101: Using Windows XP Professional in the Classroom:
Tutorial documentation for our own training purposes.
Download details: Producer for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003:
"Use Microsoft Producer 2003 for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 to capture and synchronize audio, video, slides, and images, then preview and publish a rich media presentation virtually anywhere for viewing in a Web browser."
Microsoft Education - MultiMedia presentations in PowerPoint 2003:
Creating Enhanced Multimedia Presentations
Improving Presentations and Exchanging Ideas Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
Windows SharePoint Services:
Windows SharePoint Services
Share information, collaborate on documents, and collect team knowledge over the Internet or your corporate network with the Microsoft Windows® SharePoint™ Services technology in Windows Server 2003, now available for download.
Friday, December 19, 2003
E-learning and libraries: a new white paper [OCLC]:
"E-learning is becoming an influential force in higher education today—a force that's being seen on nearly every campus and in a growing number of college courses. OCLC is pleased to offer a new white paper created by the OCLC E-learning Task Force. 'Libraries and the Enhancement of E-learning' provides an incisive look at how college coursework is being enhanced electronically and online. And it details the critical role of library cooperation as campuses expand and enhance the instructional technology environment."
MagnetLink.org:
What is a Magnet Link?
Magnet links allow users to directly download large media files saving website creators and bloggers money on bandwidth costs and effectively propagating files on p2p networks that attract millions of users per day.
TrainInc Free eBook:
"In 2001 Mark Nichols published his eBook 'Teaching for Learning'. You can read reviews in Open Learning, 18(2), 2003 pp.197-200; The Journal of Distance Learning, 7(1), pp.71-73 and Educational Technology and Society, 5(1), pp.207-208.
The book has sold well however it is now two years old. The publishers have decided to offer it free of charge as of December 2003. "
Thursday, December 18, 2003
200 Contributors Share Their Experiences with On-line Learning
With great succeed we ended our contest “e- learning in practice”. During three weeks we received participations from over two hundred users from the European Community. As it is usually said in contests “election was very difficult to made”, and it was. Many contestants showed up with amazing projects or experiences that held the staff for hours at the meeting room. Finally, one was the lucky to go to Online Educa in Berlin: Roberto Lana, a teacher from Italy, who presented a project that helps international students attending to his school to integrate to the learning process through the creation of a web page with basic illustrated vocabulary.
Link to article
Gradual and Simple Changes to Incorporate ICT into the Classroom
by A. Pincas
Anita Pincas, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Education, University of London
Across Europe, national governments have been spending billions of Euros on providing ICT tools and infrastructure for education. Nevertheless the extent to which ICT has become embedded into teaching and learning so that the pedagogic approach is altered and enhanced, is low relative to the investment made. Yet, computer-based delivery is expanding the continuum of learning environments, especially the “blended” courses. Since many campus-based instructors are sceptical of wholesale shifts, this short paper suggests gradual and simple changes to lighten the new instructor’s ICT learning load and improve student learning. The article is based in the Online Education and Training (OET) course from the Institute of Education, University of London.
Link to article
Attitudes of Young People towards ICT
by A. Kárpáti
Andrea Kárpáti, UNESCO Chair for ICT in Education, Eötvös University, Budapest
Interviews with students and their parents about the use of ICT in learning and work put in evidence that the digital divide is in fact age-related.
Link to article
E-learning Frameworks and Tools programme:
E-Learning Technical Framework and Tools
Background
The JISC has already made a considerable contribution in development of the MLE concept and standards to support interoperability. However there is still a need to produce a coherent vision on how to integrate systems to support institutional processes such as effective e-learning. It was noted that several high profile international initiatives in the arena of learning technologies (i.e. OKI, IMS, SUN, etc.) are developing frameworks to provide a common basis for designing e-learning architectures. It was proposed that a generic technical framework for e-learning systems could be produced and this would enable:
1. FE/HE to create MLE architectures to support their particular e-learning strategies;
2. the production of architectures based on standards which enable interoperability;
3. provide a common basis (understanding) for future developments;
4. JISC to identify gaps or major barriers to progress (pain points) to focus development activity. "
quoted from JISC website
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Connections: The Impact of Schooling:
Jay Cross is CEO of eLearningForum, founder of Internet Time Group and a fellow of meta-learninglab.com. For more information, e-mail Jay at jcross@clomedia.com.
"Learning is that which enables you to participate successfully in life, at work and in the groups that matter to you. Learners go with the flow. Taking advantage of the double meaning of "network", to learn is to optimize one's networks.
The concept that learning is making good connections frees us to think about learning without the chimera of boring classrooms, irrelevant content and ineffective schooling. Instead, the network model lets us take a dispassionate look at our systems while examining nodes and connections, seeking interoperability, boosting the signal-to-noise ratio, building robust topologies, balancing the load and focusing on process improvement.
Does looking at learning as networking take humans out of the picture? Quite the opposite.
Most learning is informal; a network approach makes it easier, more productive and more memorable to meet, share and collaborate. Emotional intelligence promotes interoperability with others. Expert locators connect you to the person with the right answer. Imagine focusing the hive mind that emerges in massive multiplayer games on business. Smart systems will prescribe the apt way to demonstrate a procedure, help make a decision or provide a service, or transform an individual's self-image. Networks will serve us instead of the other way around. "
Friday, December 12, 2003
New Scientist:
Microsoft news site to customise content
18:40 18 November 03
NewScientist.com news service
"A news-gathering web site that tailors the stories selected to individual users is being tested by Microsoft. Once MSN Newsbot is fully functional, Microsoft says the site will personalise results within 10 minutes of a user starting to browse.
If successful, the site is likely to be a direct rival to the highly popular Google News, which clusters information from over 4000 news sources according to topics but does not customise results."
Thread - Intelligence - Article:
There Are Only Four Things That People Do On the Web
December 4, 2003
By Dirk Knemeyer
"Web development can be extremely confusing. Between the interface and application side, between the many different titles and functions that go into creating websites, between the various organizational units, agenda and concerns that must be balanced in the development process, it is no wonder that there is a cacophony of opinions and perspectives on web development. Unfortunately, the problem will continue to get worse before it gets better."
Comment: This is an interesting article that informs us of the 4 major reasons why people go online, which is to:
1. learn
2. feel
3. connect
4. trade
This is pretty similar to what 'Train of Thoughts' says in the chapter expounding on why surfers go online.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Learning Circuits -- ASTD's Online Magazine All About E-Learning:
The Future of the Profession Formerly Known as Training
By Pat Galagan
Is someone who does HR forensics - investigating potential wrongdoing by tracking an employee's downloads and Website visits - in the same profession as someone who facilitates understanding between diverse groups of employees? Is a classroom trainer with a solo practice in the same universe as a corporate chief learning officer? Does a course designer occupy the same family tree as a knowledge strategist?
Criteria for Evaluating the Quality of Online Courses:
Criteria for Evaluating the Quality of Online Courses
Clayton R. Wright
wrightc@macewan.ca
Instructional Media and Design
Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4S2
The criteria presented in this guide are based on the national and international experiences of staff in the Instructional Media and Design department at Grant MacEwan College. Although they were developed to assist educators in evaluating the effectiveness of online courses, they may also be used as guidelines for course developers.
Friday, December 05, 2003
Testing the Usability of Visual Languages: A Web-Based Methodology:
"Among the possible evaluation methods (Preece 1993), we elicited observational evaluation, which involves observing or monitoring users' behavior while they are using an interface, and survey evaluation, which means seeking users' subjective opinions. To collect data about what users do when they interact with the test interface, employment of direct observation was avoided. In fact, if users are constantly aware that their performance is being monitored, their behavior may be strongly influenced (Hawthorne effect). Instead, we used software logging to record the dialog between user and system. In particular, our methodology is based on the use of the log files of a Web server, as will be illustrated. Moreover, we elicited questionnaire forms to support the survey evaluation. "
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Online Dictionary - HyperDictionary.com
Welcome to our online dictionary. The new databases are online. There is still work to be done, but the website is functional and the word definitions are available. We are currently working on adding a spell checker for search terms. We thank everyone who submitted their feedback to us and encourage our users to continue to provide us with suggestions.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Monday, December 01, 2003
InContext Enterprises - Contextual Connection: Design Corner: "Resources is a collection of reference links that the experts at InContext have found noteworthy. The topics encompass a variety of disciplines including Usability Design, Technical Writing, Code Creating, Social Science and, of course, Contextual Design. Periodically, these topic specific links are saved to the Contextual Connection Archive, and replaced with a new collection."
Reusable Learning Objects - Home Page: "This project has been funded by TAFE Queensland Innovative Projects 2002 which is an initiative of the Queensland Department of Employment and Training"
