Digital Nation on Frontline...see what has happened to us...

Within a single generation, digital media and the World Wide Web have transformed virtually every aspect of modern culture, from the way we learn and work to the ways in which we socialize and even conduct war. But is the technology moving faster than we can adapt to it? And is our 24/7 wired world causing us to lose as much as we've gained?
Click here to go to the movie

Check out this article about accessing elearning for free on the internet.

AARP article about free elearning on the internet.

JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure | Video on TED.com

JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure Video on TED.com TED videos are amazing and this will not disapoint.

Social Media Intro For Business Intelligence People

Here is one of many presentations on Social Media found on Slide Share when you type in Social Media...This is the buzz word of the moment.

Social Media Intro For Business Intelligence People

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Making/Using Checklists seem to apply to so many scenarios...

Perhaps we can consider the checklist when setting  up a course or advising students...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/books/review/Jauhar-t.html

Research shows that Blended is best...

Check out this Presentation by Dr. Peter Shea, who works with SUNY Learning Network [SLN]  and conducted a research project where they ran fully online courses, face to face courses and blended courses with similiar subject matter and found the best student outcomes were from Blended courses.

New Directions For Sln Research

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FreeTech4Teachers

Here is a blog and more that provides all sorts of great ideas for teaching tools...http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Harnessing the Extraordinary Power of Learning Teams†

Using small groups is a good way to introduce active learning into one's teaching. There are, however, significantly different ways of using small groups. This chapter offers a critical analysis of the benefits and challenges of three different ways of using small groups: casual use, cooperative learning, and team-based learning. Read more...

We need to challenge our assumptions and re-imagine the tools we take for granted.

Google Wave: What Might Email Look Like If It Were Invented Today? read more...

Nickelodeon is teaching math, maybe there are pointers in here for older learners

By ELIZABETH JENSEN

Nickelodeon, whose preschool shows focus on teaching social skills as much as letters and numbers, will move squarely into the academic realm, with the introduction of “Team Umizoomi,” which it said is the only preschool series centered entirely on teaching math to children. read more...

NMC Horizon Report is here!

New Media Consortium and Educause jointly puts out an annual report about trends in educational technology and the relevance to Teaching, Learning, or Creative Inquiry.

The technologies featured in each edition of the Horizon Report are embedded within a contemporary
context that reflects the realities of the time, both in the sphere of academia and in the world at large.

AMD Changing the Game......Gaming isn’t just about entertainment anymore.

Developers — including high school students — are now creating games designed both to educate and engage people of all ages on pressing social issues. Global concerns such as poverty, hunger, climate change, and energy consumption have already been addressed in games that help players understand the complexities involved and explore creative solutions.
read more ....

2010: The Year Ahead for IT in Higher Education

1. Public Cloud Services Go Private.
2. The President’s Climate Commitment Meets the Campus Data Center.
3. Big Science meets Next Generation CyberInfrastructure.
4. Time to Declare the PC Dead and Embrace the Mobile Platform.
5. The E-Book Reader Grows up and Goes to Campus.
6. Social Networking Finds its Niche at College.
7. Course Management Platform Alternatives Make Major Inroads.
8. Serious Gaming Gets Serious.
9. Mobile Security Hits the College Campus.
10. Open Content meets the Open University and the Vision of the Metaversity.

To those living with the hopeful yet delusional strategy of an early return to the status quo ante, my suggestion is to get use to the so-called “new normal”. To read the rest of Lev'article click here

Fingertip Knowledge...memorizing is less important that being savvy at accessing lists

From the book, "The World is Open" by Curtis Bonk, He quotes Elliot Masie,
"Have you noticed how much we are memorizing less? It is due to a combination of Fingertip Knowledge and an increased confidence that information can be easily accessed from our devices and networks...

There are serious implications for the lowered expectation of memorization in our instructional designs. How do we recognize that our learners may not and perhaps should not, memorize key information? Rather, we may want them to be able to navigate to the information, which, in some instances, is safer since things may change. In other instances, the information may not be useful until situations arise.

The lowered levels of memorization and the increased use of Fingertip Knowledge have huge implications for how we design and deliver learning activities."

5 Higher Ed Tech Trends To Watch in 2010 according to Campus Technology

The traditional 1:1, standardized computing is too rigid in today's educational environment, where students are tapping into multiple technologies and switching gears quickly between them....
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/12/09/5-Higher-Ed-Tech-Trends-To-Watch-in-2010.aspx?Page=1 
1. More Interactive Classrooms
2. More Information at Your Fingertips
3. Mashed-Up Technologies
4. Breaking Out of Technology Isolation
5. Capabilities That Go Beyond 1:1

NY Times article explains why Twitter can actually be quite helpful...

Why Twitter Will Endure, By DAVID CARR
Published: January 1, 2010
So you’re drowning in a sea of information. Perhaps the answer is more information.

I can remember when I first thought seriously about Twitter. Last March, I was at the SXSW conference, a conclave in Austin, Tex., where technology, media and music are mashed up and re-imagined, and, not so coincidentally, where Twitter first rolled out in 2007. As someone who was oversubscribed on Facebook, overwhelmed by the computer-generated RSS feeds of news that came flying at me, and swamped by incoming e-mail messages, the last thing I wanted was one more Web-borne intrusion into my life.

Nice Website for Charles Dickens enthusiasts

In following the wonderful Masterpiece Theatre series on "Little Dorrit" I found a cornucopia of info on Charles Dickens and the era of his writing in London of the 1840-50's
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/dickens/resources.html

Google unveils new Educational Apps

Wonderful trailer and film on DESIGN, enjoy

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/objectified/previewpop.html

Tim Brown speaking about the Power of Design ! at a TED conference

Six Steps to Reputation Management for Educators By Jim Perry

Whether you access the Internet or not, information exists about you on the web. As educators,and therefore public personalities, someone is talking about you. Instead of standing by passively, Take Action!

Continue reading this document.

Blended Thinking, the definition and how it makes sense for our students

Anita Schmidt spoke about how Blended can combine the best of Face to face classes and the powerful arena of online coursework. Thanks Anita.
Here is her powerpoint.

Blended Learning Chat N Chew 10 8 09

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Where to go to change your passwords!

Go to http://password.sunyulster.edu to change your password.

Obama at a community college near us!

How wonderful. You can read the full text at this link.

Using audio clips for your class, teaching to learn...

http://smarthistory.org/ is a wonderful site that will give you lots of ideas about using different tools to reach students about a given subject area. This site is all about Art History.
http://smarthistory.org/blog/ Of course the best way to learn is to teach, so another interesting use of audio in the classroom is having students create their own podcasts. The Education Department of the American Art Museum has a very popular student podcast program, in which high school students record their reflections on selected artworks in the collection. Through the process of creating a script about an artwork and listening to their own words, the students’ writing skills improve immeasurably, in addition to their visual arts literacy.
click on the blog post to learn more http://smarthistory.org/blog/

Student Motivation through GROUP work

William Sheldon shared with us how group work motivates his students. The book he referenced is : Team Based Learning. Check out the website for more info: http://teambasedlearning.apsc.ubc.ca/?page_id=559

We will have a Chat and Chew devoted to this subject this Fall.

Here is his powerpoint

Student Motivation

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Hybrid / Online approach to Chemistry

Our own Dr. Bob Cassidy’s innovative hybrid organic chemistry course was featured on the front page of the Daily Freeman (Thursday, July 16).

Read all about it at http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/07/16/news/doc4a5e901cd9601314950880.txt.

Welcome to ANGELBootcamp support

Basics
Here is the link to the ANGEL "How-to" Tutorials
http://le.suny.edu/sln/documentation/tutorials/angel/7_3/7.3_welcome.shtml
There are also great tutorials and how-to's made by SUNY MIDs, click here to view.


The (SUNY Learning Network) SLN101: Training Materials and Sample Documents is a faculty training course, full of helpful tutorials on how-to structure, add functionality and enhance your online course

The course contains technical tutorials as well as suggestions for things like rubrics and grading. It is recommended that folks give this a look. It may contain answers to your questions, or at least show you more detail how-to on a particular topic.

Gradebook!
Follow along the Gradebook step by step set-up guides here at the SLN Training Site.
Go to 5. Teaching and Managing Your Online Course
Click on the Gradebook folder

Vanilla to Sundae !
I like the folder : 7. Instructional Design Institute for Returning Faculty
click on the section: Adding Dynamic Content:
Embedding Audio, Video, RSS, Animations, iFrames

Automates !
Send your students reminder emails
Here is where to find refresher info
Click on SLN101: Training Materials and Sample Documents
and look for Folder 7. Instructional Design Institute for Returning Faculty
and a folder called Automates.

Social Networking for Education

Massive set of links for Social Networking sites in Ed: http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com/

More info and links on the subject: http://thinkingmachine.pbwiki.com/Think-Social-Networking-for-Education

http://elgg.org/ is a social networking site built specifically for educational use. More info in the about section: http://elgg.org/about.php

Teaching Online 101 - Pedagogy and Excellent Practices

Larry Ragan from Penn State's World Campus, spoke at the SUNY Learning Network's SOLSummit 2009 in Syracuse a couple months back, and provided some excellent research and materials about faculty support for teaching online. He has also produced a series of short video series of interviews with online learning professionals called "Competencies for Online Teaching Success" (COTS) and "Strategies for Managing the Online Workload" (SMOW) - both of which are on YouTube.Larry has also developed a Creative Commons licensed orientation to excellent practices in online education:

Ragan, L. (2007, August 28). Best Practices in Online Teaching. Retrieved from the Connexions Web site: http://cnx.org/content/col10453/1.2/

The Creative Commons license allows for reuse, distribution, remixing, etc. as long as you include attribution to the original material. So, I have taken his work and adapted it into a Moodle course as well as built a tiny bit onto it. For those who have a Moodle server and would like to load the course up and re-use it, it can be found inthe attachments at this link (https://confluence.delhi.edu/x/OQCsC)