The big news at WikiEducator - the new WYSIWYG editor - so you will be able to just do your formatting directly, as you would with a word processor. This makes it much simpler and more appealing to a broader audience of educator users.
Of course, if you prefer, you can still use the old wiki-words and formatting that those familiar with Wikipedia or Wikiversity have been using all along.
Support for languages other than English are being rolled out as interest and resources increase. Spanish, French, Portuguese and several others are currently available - see links from wikieducator.org main page (bottom of left navigation menu).
Funding for WikiEducator comes through the OER Foundation. And as always WikiEducator.org is open and free for all.
Showing posts with label openlearning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label openlearning. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, December 04, 2009
sharing
Sharing is really important to a civil society. The steady decline of sharing
and community-spirited actions is a growing concern. More and more people seem
to be looking out for themselves alone at the expense (literally and
figuratively) of others. "What's in it for me?" even in not-for-profit and
humanitarian endeavors. The cynicism and arrogance of many is contributing to
the decline for all. Lots of people are in for a rude awakening when they
realize that all the men are not good looking and all the children are not
above average.
However, I'm reassured by the online learning communities. We see amazing
examples of so many who are willing to share what they have and so generously
give to the global society. The good guys win in the end... I hope.
.
and community-spirited actions is a growing concern. More and more people seem
to be looking out for themselves alone at the expense (literally and
figuratively) of others. "What's in it for me?" even in not-for-profit and
humanitarian endeavors. The cynicism and arrogance of many is contributing to
the decline for all. Lots of people are in for a rude awakening when they
realize that all the men are not good looking and all the children are not
above average.
However, I'm reassured by the online learning communities. We see amazing
examples of so many who are willing to share what they have and so generously
give to the global society. The good guys win in the end... I hope.
.
Monday, February 23, 2009
un-course
I would like to see more un-courses. I like to learn in a group. It doesn't have to be taught or even highly organized. Someone has to get it started, and maybe do a re-cap. The topic has to be interesting or specific enough to attract a critical mass. But other than that, that is plenty to provide a satisfying and rewarding learning experience. That's an "un-course".
FOC08 Facilitating Online Communities and CCK08 Connectivism and Connected Knowledge courses were great. They both had hard-working leaders who added a lot of value - course outline, readings, discussion set-up, as well as some other key components, like promotion and directing traffic and modeling communication at the kick-off.
If CCK08 and FOC08 are any example, having very large numbers of interested participants and a few vocal ones help enormously. It seems that there are many more lurkes than regular contributors, and the numbers decline over time.
A mechanism for regular updates helps - subscriptions, automatic aggregation of posts, discussion digests emails provide reminders to participants. That way participants can see what's going on and determine if they want to jump in or save the information for a schedule time later.
The Moodle course managements systems is flexible and accommodating. This WikiEducator Moodle installation is a great example. Once the course was added, I was free to set-up and use that "course" for this un-course. So far I am delighted with the results. Of course, it would be nice to have more participants. But considering the promotion was limited to the WikiEducator group email list with approximately 600 subscribers, this is a great response.
I'd like to see more un-courses under the WikiEducator banner. I hope that the WE administration will continue to support, and even expand and encourage these learning opportunities. By providing a home and a platform, WikiEducator can promote the teaching and learning side as well as the content creation side of open learning.
Do you have any un-course ideas? What learning support to you and your learners need that can be provided by Moodle? Are there any other facilitation tools that would be useful for un-courses in the future? Can WikiEducator play a bigger, more active role in promoting un-courses?
FOC08 Facilitating Online Communities and CCK08 Connectivism and Connected Knowledge courses were great. They both had hard-working leaders who added a lot of value - course outline, readings, discussion set-up, as well as some other key components, like promotion and directing traffic and modeling communication at the kick-off.
If CCK08 and FOC08 are any example, having very large numbers of interested participants and a few vocal ones help enormously. It seems that there are many more lurkes than regular contributors, and the numbers decline over time.
A mechanism for regular updates helps - subscriptions, automatic aggregation of posts, discussion digests emails provide reminders to participants. That way participants can see what's going on and determine if they want to jump in or save the information for a schedule time later.
The Moodle course managements systems is flexible and accommodating. This WikiEducator Moodle installation is a great example. Once the course was added, I was free to set-up and use that "course" for this un-course. So far I am delighted with the results. Of course, it would be nice to have more participants. But considering the promotion was limited to the WikiEducator group email list with approximately 600 subscribers, this is a great response.
I'd like to see more un-courses under the WikiEducator banner. I hope that the WE administration will continue to support, and even expand and encourage these learning opportunities. By providing a home and a platform, WikiEducator can promote the teaching and learning side as well as the content creation side of open learning.
Do you have any un-course ideas? What learning support to you and your learners need that can be provided by Moodle? Are there any other facilitation tools that would be useful for un-courses in the future? Can WikiEducator play a bigger, more active role in promoting un-courses?
Friday, February 20, 2009
non formal education (NFE)
Phil put together a non formal education (NFE) outline and purpose page. The hope is that this will serve as a jumping off point for WikiEducators (and others) to engage in discussion and collaboration.
Maria suggested some models and communities you probably don't want to miss.
Bee suggests Heutagogy and here for consideration and discussion. There is also a wiki which explores the continuum between Pedagogy, Andragogy and Heutagogy
Nice start based on a simple question. Love these WikiEducators...
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Maria suggested some models and communities you probably don't want to miss.
- Communities of practice, apprenticeships
- Massively Multiplayer Games and the huge amount of learning happening within them
- Homeschoolers, especially unschoolers
Bee suggests Heutagogy and here for consideration and discussion. There is also a wiki which explores the continuum between Pedagogy, Andragogy and Heutagogy
Nice start based on a simple question. Love these WikiEducators...
.
WikiEducator OTL09 - 2. Encourage cooperation among students
WikiEducator Moodle course management system
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/
Please join the discussions.
Online Teaching and Learning
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/course/view.php?id=26
This week we are looking at 2. Encourage cooperation among students. Students can learn a lot from one another. And they enjoy doing so. Each student brings their unique perspective and background to the course. In an online learning situation, student-student contact is also a very powerful motivator, as it provides safe, focused inter-personal interactions that are missing in many face-to-face educational institutions.
Students working in groups learn more about the content area and are more engaged in the activity than working individually. In the "real world" people rarely work alone. Learning to work collaboratively in an online environment is an important life skill. ... 2. Encourage cooperation among students
Discussion - How do you incorporate student cooperation in your on-campus class? What are some of the challenges with the current process? Would adding technology change the group dynamics? Do students do their group work entirely in class? If they work outside of class, how do you know what is going on?
..TSLnotes
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/
Please join the discussions.
Online Teaching and Learning
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/course/view.php?id=26
This week we are looking at 2. Encourage cooperation among students. Students can learn a lot from one another. And they enjoy doing so. Each student brings their unique perspective and background to the course. In an online learning situation, student-student contact is also a very powerful motivator, as it provides safe, focused inter-personal interactions that are missing in many face-to-face educational institutions.
Students working in groups learn more about the content area and are more engaged in the activity than working individually. In the "real world" people rarely work alone. Learning to work collaboratively in an online environment is an important life skill. ... 2. Encourage cooperation among students
Discussion - How do you incorporate student cooperation in your on-campus class? What are some of the challenges with the current process? Would adding technology change the group dynamics? Do students do their group work entirely in class? If they work outside of class, how do you know what is going on?
..TSLnotes
learning adventures
I'm off on another learning adventure - well, several actually. I have been trying to drum up support from friends and colleagues, but to no avail. So like The Little Red Hen, I'll do it myself... and she did.
- Engineering - Engineering and science education is in swift decline. Despite the best efforts of NPR's Science Friday, Scientific American, NASA and others, the fact remains. Few kids are getting enough Science, Math and Engineering learning opportunities. There is plenty of information available so anyone can discover and connect with lots of great information.
- Online Learning - With budget cutbacks, more learning is going to be self-directed and technology supported. There is lots of great content already available. Finding it and adopting / adapting it for personalized teaching and learning could do with some investigation. ..WikiEducator Moodle
- Community Mobilization - Phil's Community Empowerment and Mobiliser training contain lots of valuable information based on his years in Africa and teaching Sociology. Enlisting volunteers to translate these materials into dozens of local languages is no small feat. But who is using them? Why would they? How would they be found and used?
- Money - The economy is in pretty sorry shape and getting worse by the day. Enlightened self interest required knowing more about everything that can impact our personal financial situation, and understanding how to protect current assets and even prosper as thing realign in the coming weeks and months. ..money
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Community College Open Textbook Project
Community College Open Textbook Project
by Judy Baker
by Judy Baker
|
WikiEducator OTL09
I have set up an online workshop in the WikiEducator Moodle course management system
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/
Please join the discussions.
Online Teaching and Learning
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/course/view.php?id=26
In 1987 Chickering & Gamson published the now famous Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. These principles are based on the perspective that the goal of a proper undergraduate education should be active, cooperative, and challenging.
This workshop is an ongoing discussion forum. New topics will be introduced each week. Each topic will run for 2 weeks. The idea is to have some quality discussions on important topics in online teaching and learning.
All WikiEducators are welcome. Lurk or actively participate. Suggest discussion topics. Subscribe to the discussions and have them come to you.
Next topic
1. Encourage student-faculty contact (Feb 12 - Feb 26)
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/
Please join the discussions.
Online Teaching and Learning
http://moodle.wikieducator.org/course/view.php?id=26
In 1987 Chickering & Gamson published the now famous Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. These principles are based on the perspective that the goal of a proper undergraduate education should be active, cooperative, and challenging.
This workshop is an ongoing discussion forum. New topics will be introduced each week. Each topic will run for 2 weeks. The idea is to have some quality discussions on important topics in online teaching and learning.
All WikiEducators are welcome. Lurk or actively participate. Suggest discussion topics. Subscribe to the discussions and have them come to you.
Next topic
1. Encourage student-faculty contact (Feb 12 - Feb 26)
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Open source - good for all
Some students are concerned that open source software and content - text, audio, video, images mean that the author / producer must work for free and are therefore losing money. However, just because the information is free, doesn't mean that the author / producer isn't paid.
There are many different ways to be paid. Some are paid by a company or a college to do the work as part of their job. For example, the college gets student fees, attracts students, get recognition. They get grants from government or foundations or even companies to produce the work and make it freely available. There are many organizations and individuals who believe it is in the best interests of society to make information available freely to anyone and everyone.
Even for this class, the cost of the textbook is much higher than the student fees. We are working to find a better, free or cheaper solution. Others share this concern and are actively doing something about it!
The College Open Textbooks project is working on this.
http://collegeopentextbooks.ning.com/profiles/blogs/models-for-open-textbooks
There are many different ways to be paid. Some are paid by a company or a college to do the work as part of their job. For example, the college gets student fees, attracts students, get recognition. They get grants from government or foundations or even companies to produce the work and make it freely available. There are many organizations and individuals who believe it is in the best interests of society to make information available freely to anyone and everyone.
Even for this class, the cost of the textbook is much higher than the student fees. We are working to find a better, free or cheaper solution. Others share this concern and are actively doing something about it!
The College Open Textbooks project is working on this.
http://collegeopentextbooks.ning.com/profiles/blogs/models-for-open-textbooks
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Reviews and reviewer ratings
There needs to be some kind of recommender / reviewer network - perhaps peer-to-peer, that allows people to review OERs and then gain status as a trusted reviewer. Sort of like Ebay seller status.
I read way too much Stephen Downes to suggest that any one organization should own and operate such as system. But having some connectivist mechanism for pulling this all together out of the "ethers" needs to provide the trust / credibility / authority indicators to help adopters and learners identify the OERs that best suit their needs.
Is there any evidence that there is support for this? Are there any actual implementations?
.
I read way too much Stephen Downes to suggest that any one organization should own and operate such as system. But having some connectivist mechanism for pulling this all together out of the "ethers" needs to provide the trust / credibility / authority indicators to help adopters and learners identify the OERs that best suit their needs.
Is there any evidence that there is support for this? Are there any actual implementations?
.
Due diligence
Thanks everyone for the feedback about Open Textbooks. It is good to know that you see Open Textbooks as OERs and these general conversations apply.
I did get a note back from Wayne Mackintosh at WikiEducator, that there will be a lot more about this coming shortly.
About vetting and the perceived authority of the textbook - This is an interesting issue. If authors get their textbook published, it immediately gains status as a reliable source of information on the subject. Exactly what does that imply? Many instructors rely on the publishers' commitment to the textbook as a sign that most or all of the material contained has some legitimacy and authority.
If we move away from textbook publishers doing the due diligence, then how is that "star quality" conveyed? Most instructors and their institutions put a lot of stock in the current system. For example, part of the articulation agreements that allow our community college courses to be accepted for transfer to a four year university are based on the use of known, suitable textbooks - usually the same ones as those in use for the equivalent course offered by the 4-year school (and written or peer reviewed by the department chair). What happens to this accepted foundation if you don't have textbooks prepared, published and distributed through that system?
Obviously, there are lots of other / better ways that this might be handled in an OER environment, but until there is something in place that provides this level of "quality assurance" and credibility, getting Open Textbooks adopted is going to be tough sledding.
Is there anything available now or in discussion that addresses this vetting, credibility-bestowing? What would your institution and/or your colleagues need to replace the publishers' selection, review and commitment as evidenced by the $100,000s publishing, marketing and distribution costs?
.
I did get a note back from Wayne Mackintosh at WikiEducator, that there will be a lot more about this coming shortly.
About vetting and the perceived authority of the textbook - This is an interesting issue. If authors get their textbook published, it immediately gains status as a reliable source of information on the subject. Exactly what does that imply? Many instructors rely on the publishers' commitment to the textbook as a sign that most or all of the material contained has some legitimacy and authority.
If we move away from textbook publishers doing the due diligence, then how is that "star quality" conveyed? Most instructors and their institutions put a lot of stock in the current system. For example, part of the articulation agreements that allow our community college courses to be accepted for transfer to a four year university are based on the use of known, suitable textbooks - usually the same ones as those in use for the equivalent course offered by the 4-year school (and written or peer reviewed by the department chair). What happens to this accepted foundation if you don't have textbooks prepared, published and distributed through that system?
Obviously, there are lots of other / better ways that this might be handled in an OER environment, but until there is something in place that provides this level of "quality assurance" and credibility, getting Open Textbooks adopted is going to be tough sledding.
Is there anything available now or in discussion that addresses this vetting, credibility-bestowing? What would your institution and/or your colleagues need to replace the publishers' selection, review and commitment as evidenced by the $100,000s publishing, marketing and distribution costs?
.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
WikiEducator and Open Textbooks
What is the overlap / complementary functionality between WikiEducator and Open Textbooks? I haven't spent much time thinking about textbooks per se lately. They are just really big OERs or collections of OERs. However, there is some authority baggage that comes with a "textbook".
It will be a while before the education community moves beyond textbooks, so it is appropriate to step back and think about transitioning processes that include the notion of open textbook - whatever that is (or isn't).
Specifically, addressing these objectives...
I think WE cross-platform is ok, but is there anything specific happening for mobile device or OLPC display?
What do you know about WE and adaptive technology? I think it is all ok-enough for California Community College access requirements. I'll hear more shortly as I have a blind student in my class this semester. She uses several different technologies, but she is reluctant to talk about this much. I understand, but I would really like to know much, much more.
It will be a while before the education community moves beyond textbooks, so it is appropriate to step back and think about transitioning processes that include the notion of open textbook - whatever that is (or isn't).
Specifically, addressing these objectives...
http://www.I'm particularly interested incollegeopentextbooks.org/
Our task is to look at different ways to make free, open textbooks a sustainable resource for faculty and students. At the same time, we are working to create a vetting procedure to review textbooks and recommend texts that meet our quality standards.
We know it has to beAnd that's just the short list.
- free, or very nearly free,
- easy to use, get and pass around,
- editable so instructors can customize content,
- cross-platform compatible,
- printable,
- and accessible so it works with adaptive technology.
- sustainable - this could mean a lot of things - regular controlled revisions, ownership for the base content. What does it usually mean to others when it comes up?
- vetting - do you see this being handled with WE-provided functionality
- printable - do you think the WE collections and PDF functions would meet most people's requirements and expectations for a printable textbook
I think WE cross-platform is ok, but is there anything specific happening for mobile device or OLPC display?
What do you know about WE and adaptive technology? I think it is all ok-enough for California Community College access requirements. I'll hear more shortly as I have a blind student in my class this semester. She uses several different technologies, but she is reluctant to talk about this much. I understand, but I would really like to know much, much more.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wishing and hoping...
Adding to the WikiEducator Wishlist - Nice to have
http://www.wikieducator.org/Wishlist
I have been moving content for my Technology Supported Learning workshop / online course to WikiEducator. I plan to offer it as an open not-for-credit course in parallel with the for-credit course I offer at school. Normally, there are only a few faculty who sign up, so it is hard to have an interesting and lively online learning experience. One thing that did help, was sending out an email every 2-3 days providing a small portion of the workshop - overview, learning outcomes, notes, and 2-3 short activities. The 7 topics of the online workshop were broken into 21 chunks that were emailed to participants every couple of days.
Others might be interested in adopting this material for their own teaching or learning. It would be useful to have the information peer-reviewed for me and others to see. Searching for appropriate OERs is still time consuming as there isn't a good recommender system in place yet. Capturing the thoughts of reviews as they review the materials will help everyone.
So here are my wish list additions today.
Tools for facilitating personal learning and online courses / workshops based on content held in WikiEducator - registration, e-mailing list management, pre-programmed serial emails, peer review tracking
http://www.wikieducator.org/Wishlist
I have been moving content for my Technology Supported Learning workshop / online course to WikiEducator. I plan to offer it as an open not-for-credit course in parallel with the for-credit course I offer at school. Normally, there are only a few faculty who sign up, so it is hard to have an interesting and lively online learning experience. One thing that did help, was sending out an email every 2-3 days providing a small portion of the workshop - overview, learning outcomes, notes, and 2-3 short activities. The 7 topics of the online workshop were broken into 21 chunks that were emailed to participants every couple of days.
Others might be interested in adopting this material for their own teaching or learning. It would be useful to have the information peer-reviewed for me and others to see. Searching for appropriate OERs is still time consuming as there isn't a good recommender system in place yet. Capturing the thoughts of reviews as they review the materials will help everyone.
So here are my wish list additions today.
Tools for facilitating personal learning and online courses / workshops based on content held in WikiEducator - registration, e-mailing list management, pre-programmed serial emails, peer review tracking
- pre-programmed serial emails - participants subscribe to an automated series of emails that can be set to mail out the "next" in the series every n days - allows participants to start any time, optionally facilitator or participant can set their own frequency for emails.
The daily emails for CCK08 were great. Although they were authored each day, that isn't as important as getting regular emails on topic. These can be set up in advance. The subscription triggers the sequence of emails - this is a PHPlist function I think, though it was so complicated I never actually got it to work. - peer review tracking - lots of talk about why OERs are adopted, reused, remixed.. but some of that is because there isn't much information about status, authentication or feedback. This isn't the same as history or discussion
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Never too much of a good thing
One of the assignments activities for my Computers and the Internet in Society class asks students to visit a social bookmarking site. Digg, Delicious are provided as examples. They are asked to comment on the experience. Did they have prior experience using social bookmarking?
I'm always surprised that this is new to college students, even ones living and working in the heart of Silicon Valley. This is a typical response.
In a recent comment about Personal Learning Environments (PLEs), someone (perhaps Stephen Downes or someone he cited) reminded readers that PLEs still need direction and support - this is not just "throw 'm into the deep end of the pool". This got me thinking about my online course - Moodle, wikis, web research, web 2.0, images, media literacy, blogs, podcasts, virtual lectures, ePortfolios... This is definitely a Small Group Learning Environment (SGLE).
But does that qualify as a PLE for individual students in the class? I have decided that Yes, this is a pretty good approximation of a PLE. Students have a lot of flexibility within each assignment activity. Most assignments are submitted as posts to discussion forum topics so the entire class sees these. There is a lot of peer-to-peer sharing and learning going on. They get direction and support from me and other students. The good students tend to post early and often so they model best practices for the others to follow. Everyone learns a lot, especially me!
The biggest challenge has been refining the activities to encourage students to work this way. Each student's learning experience is similar but different. In the end, they all cover the material and meet or exceed the student learning outcomes defined. Students also say they have learned about learning and will take that away with them. This is very exciting for me, too.
Providing each student with a course-specific Personal Learning Environment is doable. It is a good start to helping all learners reach their full potentials in ways that are meaningful and interesting.
.
I'm always surprised that this is new to college students, even ones living and working in the heart of Silicon Valley. This is a typical response.
I looked around read a few shocking/interesting articles and headed to the Technology topic where I read about companies like Digg, Mozilla, Microsoft and Apple. Make it stop! I'm addicted!! I went to Digg thinking it would be quick but it was one click after another. This site has a great compilation of interesting reads and is categorized by interests. I think social bookmarking peaked my interest because I am reading about stuff I wouldn't otherwise read --unless I went to that website directly. Also, it conserves a lot of time since these posts are rated, you can read what the majority finds most interesting first.This is really reassuring. If we can provide the right combination of motivation and content, students can and do learn. They will spend the time on task to explore, examine and reflect. All I needed to do was set up a learning experience. I love the excitement expressed. I am extremely gratified and proud to be part of the process.
In a recent comment about Personal Learning Environments (PLEs), someone (perhaps Stephen Downes or someone he cited) reminded readers that PLEs still need direction and support - this is not just "throw 'm into the deep end of the pool". This got me thinking about my online course - Moodle, wikis, web research, web 2.0, images, media literacy, blogs, podcasts, virtual lectures, ePortfolios... This is definitely a Small Group Learning Environment (SGLE).
But does that qualify as a PLE for individual students in the class? I have decided that Yes, this is a pretty good approximation of a PLE. Students have a lot of flexibility within each assignment activity. Most assignments are submitted as posts to discussion forum topics so the entire class sees these. There is a lot of peer-to-peer sharing and learning going on. They get direction and support from me and other students. The good students tend to post early and often so they model best practices for the others to follow. Everyone learns a lot, especially me!
The biggest challenge has been refining the activities to encourage students to work this way. Each student's learning experience is similar but different. In the end, they all cover the material and meet or exceed the student learning outcomes defined. Students also say they have learned about learning and will take that away with them. This is very exciting for me, too.
Providing each student with a course-specific Personal Learning Environment is doable. It is a good start to helping all learners reach their full potentials in ways that are meaningful and interesting.
.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
open content experience
In Am I missing the point on open educational resources?, Brian Lamb got some interesting responses including this from Alan Levine
I'm inclined to agree. Currently, and perhaps rightly so, the "haves" are the content producers. Some content is new and additive. Some is hackneyed, just restating the work of others as original (and copyrightable) suitable for publication as tenure requirement.
One of the aims for WikiEducator and others, is to find ways to promote the reuse of the best content, identify and fill the holes if they exist, and help educators reuse, remix and redistribute. I like the idea of a middleman role here between the content producers and the teachers, instructors and learners who are directed to the content as part of their learning experience.
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The pot hole has been, IMHO and I think you allude, the education has focused a lot on the "course" as the pursuit and generation of OER - what if it were reframed to look more broadly at creating the Open Content Experiences, which are the things people do, reflect, produce from, contribute to via learning, not just consuming content like a one way flow.
I'm inclined to agree. Currently, and perhaps rightly so, the "haves" are the content producers. Some content is new and additive. Some is hackneyed, just restating the work of others as original (and copyrightable) suitable for publication as tenure requirement.
One of the aims for WikiEducator and others, is to find ways to promote the reuse of the best content, identify and fill the holes if they exist, and help educators reuse, remix and redistribute. I like the idea of a middleman role here between the content producers and the teachers, instructors and learners who are directed to the content as part of their learning experience.
.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
open learning
A dynamic list of links to open learning resources - repositories, articles, adoption planning, rating and evaluation
Friday, November 21, 2008
Science education
Dynamic page created by displaying links saved with the ScienceEd tag in delicious.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
TSLR links
This dynamically created list includes the latest links tagged in del.icio.us as TSLR - resources for Technology Supported Learning - an open educational resource and online workshop.
This list is the same as the right sidebar "teaching and learning" list.
This list is the same as the right sidebar "teaching and learning" list.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
CCK08 FOC08 - Tar Heel Reader
Everyone working with new readers needs to know about Tar Heel Reader.
I'm working with Grade 1-3 kids now. There are plenty of books already available. We will make more books together using the photos provided and our own word lists.
Tar Heel Reader is a wonderful resource for young adults. Lots of variety and many books are specifically provided for this age group. Having these kids author books as well as reading them is very engaging and challenging.
The authoring interface is easy to use and the resulting works are very "professional" looking. Beginning readers who build books will be very proud of their contributions. It is really exciting to know that people all over the world can read your book. If you and your learners are interested in building books as well as reading them, just request an invitation - this is how they are limiting spam and handling scaling the project.
This is what connectivism and online community mean to me.
Tar Heel Reader
Books for beginning readers of all ages
Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces (i.e. switches, alternative keyboards, touch screens, and dedicated AAC devices). The books may be downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format.
http://tarheelreader.org/
I'm working with Grade 1-3 kids now. There are plenty of books already available. We will make more books together using the photos provided and our own word lists.
Tar Heel Reader is a wonderful resource for young adults. Lots of variety and many books are specifically provided for this age group. Having these kids author books as well as reading them is very engaging and challenging.
The authoring interface is easy to use and the resulting works are very "professional" looking. Beginning readers who build books will be very proud of their contributions. It is really exciting to know that people all over the world can read your book. If you and your learners are interested in building books as well as reading them, just request an invitation - this is how they are limiting spam and handling scaling the project.
This is what connectivism and online community mean to me.
Friday, November 07, 2008
DeAnza College iTunes U
DeAnza College has long been an innovator in distance education. Television courses produced by DeAnza's Broadcast Media Center have been an important community resource for many years. As the the internet and streaming video have evolved, so have DeAnza's course video delivery. Apple's iTunes U provides the means to continue DeAnza's tradition of community access to education.
DeAnza College's iTunes U catalog of Open Educational resources is expanding, and now includes several full courses.
Other open media resources include
http://www.deanza.edu/itunesu/
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DeAnza College's iTunes U catalog of Open Educational resources is expanding, and now includes several full courses.
- Math 10: Elementary Statistics and Probability
- EWRT 100: Critical Reading and Writing
- HTEC 60A: Medical Terminology
Other open media resources include
- EWRT 2: Critical Thinking about Vietnam
- ESL 261: English as a Secong Language
- JAPN: Japanese
- NUTR 10: Nutrition
- NURS 83: Perinatal Nursing
- NURS 83A: Pediatric Nursing
- CAOS/ARTS 113: Dreamweaver I
- POLS: Political Science
http://www.deanza.edu/itunesu/
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