February 2005
February 27, 2005
Chem4Kids
Thanks for visiting! Right now you're on CHEM4KIDS.COM. If you are looking for chemistry basics, stay on this site. Chem4Kids will remain a free site even though we moved our other sites into our subscription site, KAPILI.COM. If you are looking for tutorials and activities for biology, chemistry, earth sciences, and physics then you should take a look at Kapili. The members of Kapili have access to all of that information and they get to be a part of any new content we build.
Resources for K-12 Earth Science
one of a series of reports based on data from the 2000 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education, a survey of 5,765 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the United States. The Earth Science report is organized into these major topical areas: characteristics of the earth science teaching force in the U.S.; professional development of earth science teachers, both needs and participation; earth science classes offered; earth science instruction, in terms of both objectives and class activities; and resources available for earth science instruction
GSA Free Teacher Resources - Education Resources
Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.
Since my first attempt in 1996, I have compiled many top-10 lists of the biggest mistakes in Web design. See links to all these lists at the bottom of this article. This article presents the highlights: the very worst mistakes of Web design. (Updated 2004.)
Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
February 24, 2005
Against Schools
How public education cripples
our kids, and why
By John Taylor Gatto
Against School, by John Taylor Gatto
US slipping off technology edge.
It sounds like a combination horror movie title and ill-researched CBS Memogate report. I have read the Electronic News story, "U.S. Technology in Danger of Falling Behind" several times now...(and it does not say that we're falling into the Digital Divide...that is my stab at dramatic headlines). One might expect a technology magazine to be concerned about the growth in technology R&D in emerging free market countries...and this article validates that concern. The odd twist to this technology story is that three of the assumptions made in the article include peculiar twists of logic
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: US slipping off technology edge - into the Digital Divide
Digital divide narrowing fast.
The "digital divide" between rich and poor nations is narrowing fast, the World Bank (news - web sites) said on Thursday, calling into question a costly United Nations (news - web sites) campaign to bring hi-tech telecommunications to the developing world.
As some 1,700 international experts gathered in Geneva to prepare for the U.N.'s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the World Bank said in a report that telecommunications services to poor countries were growing at an explosive rate.
"The digital divide is rapidly closing," the report said.
Yahoo! News - 'Digital Divide' Narrowing Fast, World Bank Says
Survey: Users confuse search results, ads
Only 1 in 6 users of internet search engines can tell the difference between unbiased search results and paid advertisements, a new survey finds. Though it polled only adults, the survey's results underscore the need for educators to teach their students how to understand and evaluate carefully the information they find online--particularly as today's generation of students increasingly turn to the web as their primary research tool.
Reliability of web info challenges educators
Go to Google, search and scroll results, click and copy: When students do research online these days, many educators worry, those are often about the only steps they take. If they can avoid a trip to the library at all, many students gladly will.
February 23, 2005
Repositories a thing of the past.
It seems we are all thinking the same thing.
cogdogblog: If All The Learning Objects Are Web Pages Who Needs a Repository?
On October 7, 2004 I posted the following entry, check out the how we are saying almost the same thing...maybe we are on to something???
Learning Object Repositories are a thing of the past as seen through the cyber glasses.
In my humble opinion, the number one issue of using learning objects to create course material is one of saving time (searching vs. starting from scratch). The challenge to find just the right learning object to meet instructional requirements is almost as great as developing a standardized globally acceptable meta-system. These issues alone are why the learning object repositories concept has not taken off.
Most experts when trying to explain why the repository system has become bogged down will try to blame it on a lack of meta-tagging or standards. The development of a universally accepted meta-tag system would only result in a lot of work for undergraduate students who would be needed to apply these to the existing learning objects. The expert's solution to this costly method of meta-tagging the learning objects is to get the users of the repositories to tag the objects as they search and sort through them. This user meta-tagging system is flawed because even the easiest user applicable tagging system will require time and expertise that most searchers who are pressed for time even to find an object that comes close to matching the style and needs of the course do not have. The other choice is to get the developer at the time of creation to tag the object, again flawed because the developer has barely the time needed to adequately create the learning object never mind meta-tagging so someone else out there on the web would be able to find it and use it. A robot type tagging system has the best chance of success. But once tagged the fact still remains that the majority of learning objects are created by course designers to fit into a specific location and style. This limits the usefulness of much of the material which would be found within a repository and greatly reducing the chances of finding a sufficient number of objects that look like they belong together and fit the needs. After taking all this into consideration perhaps it is better just to create the material from scratch. Then once the course has been created, enhance and support it with robot tagged learning objects that you might (I stress the word might) have time to search for once you have taught the course for a few years. Which comes to another question, has anyone every ever really completed an online course? Every online course that I have written never seems to be done; I am always finding new exciting learning objects to support my created content. Maybe this is the answer to how and when learning objects should be used in creating learning material.
Learning object repositories are a thing of the past. The material should reside in the location it was originally created for. Once tagged in that location it can be found as easily there as it could be found in a repository. The money being spent collecting all the objects into a repository should be spent on developing an automated tagging system then the complete web becomes the repository, removing the need for duplication of objects.
Possibly a narrow tinted view through the cyber glasses.
February 21, 2005
Videogaming Success and the Four Principles of Good Education
Yesterday's Boston Globe ran an article that asked what kind of culture is being produced by video games. The article, written by the father of an eleven-year-old son, lists the pros and cons of the our videogame culture and ends by concluding what parents have concluded about almost every generational technology influence since 1950 -- moderation is a good thing.
In order to provide some context, here are a few interesting facts about the pervasiveness of videogames in today's society:
60 percent of the American population has played some kind of video game
Half of all children aged 4 to 6 have played video games, and a quarter say they do so regularly
Children starting to game today are likely to have parents who played as teenagers themselves
The average age of video gamers is 29, and 17 percent of gamers are older than 50
Last year, Americans spent $9.9 billion on video games, not counting the $1 billion that buyers paid for PC games and accessories.
Often, when educators and researchers start throwing around these statistics, there is a warning about a radical shift in the way we do education. Our classrooms will have to focus more on the principles of gaming. Our online courses will need to be come entirely simulation-based. But that's not what I think these statistics necessarily tell us about education.
NorthernVoice 5
Northern Voice - Canadian Blogging Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, February 19, 2005
A great list of resources
NewPRWiki - Resources.NorthernVoice05
Is the blackness of the Digital Divide about race or culture?
"A Pew Internet & American Life Project study last year showed 43 percent of blacks in the United States using the Internet compared with 67 percent of whites." This quote appears in the article, AP Black technology campaign brings awareness to communities as well as Events bring awareness of technology divide by race. Both articles speak of a seven year campaign to raise the level of awareness of the technology gap within the black community...and that is a good thing. But why the emphasis on only one comparison of white population vs black population?
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Is the blackness of the Digital Divide about race or culture?
E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online
eLearning Reviews: E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online
February 20, 2005
Association of Online K-12 Schools Update
Three weeks after the start up of the Association of Online K-12 Schools we are at forty members and eleven schools...this is a great start.
Listed below are the schools that are presently members of the Association sorted by Country.
Canada
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
John Paul II Collegiate - North Battleford, Saskatchewan
School of Hope - Vermilion, Alberta
InForm Net - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Alberta Distance Learning Centre - Barrhead, alberta
School-Online.ca - Mississauga, Ontario
Fraser Valley Distance Education School - Chilliwack, British Columbia
United States
The Babbage School - Port Jefferson, NY
Arkansas Virtual High School - Dardanelle, Ar
E-School - Honolulu, Hawaii
Australia
Hamilton Secondary College - Adelaide, Australia
Please apply to have your online school added to the list by becoming a member school of the Association of Online K-12 schools. To apply use the following form: Association Membership Application
Association of Online K-12 Schools
Take back the Web...comments
My posts on the state of schools (conclusion reached - they suck, but I think there is reason for hope) seem to be on the same trail where some of the other ants are wondering. Two recent posts from Darren Cannell - Dark Age of Information/Take Back the Web - and Will Richardson Take Back the Web - are good reading for anyone who thinks that schools need to get with it.
StigmergicWeb » Blog Archive » Take Back the Web
Technology and Education - Swimming Upstream.
I read this post from Will and thought to myself, if these guys don't get it, then we are up the creek without the proverbial paddle. As this next generation of web technologies really takes hold, the web becomes a global library. Its not a new thought, but you have to be able to read critically, now more than ever.
The Big Six
The Big 6 is a proven approach to information problem-solving. It helps you succeed in school and life. Use the Big 6 to find, use, apply and evaluate information for specific needs and tasks.
How to Do Research.
The KYVL for Kids Research Portal - How to do research Home Base
Info Literacy
Continuing in the theme of the post from a couple of days ago, Will R. posted a great story illustrating one of the persistent problems we have a work. This issue of "how do we get students and teachers to use the 'good stuff' on the web" is a reoccurring theme in many of our discussions. Just yesterday I met with a couple of reps from one of the large library database providers. We compared notes, and found that just giving folks access to stuff isn't good enough. We're offering schools a very nice combination of resources, but that doesn't always translate into success. Users--educators or students--need to have some level of information literacy in order to know how to get to the good stuff.
Information Management Weblog: Info Literacy
Take back the web, coninued
Will writes today about the impulse some teachers have to face pedagogical difficulties by cutting the world down to size for students. Facing increased use of shoddy sources grabbed uncritically from the web, for example, some schools respond not by teaching critical skills but by doing the research for the students:
February 18, 2005
Dark age of Information/Take Back the Web.
I wrote a blog entry back in October 9th 2004 called Are we entering a Dark Age of Information? The answer to the question asked in the title is Yes, proof positive is a blog entry that I ran across today called Take Back the Web
In my entry I stated that I think there is too much available information and no system to access it.
Proof positive from the Take back the Web entry..."Why don't you do some professional development for your teachers and show them how to teach kids to find good sources?"
"Oh, no," the principal said. "They won't want to do that. They don't have the time for it."
Dark age of information... Will the student of the future have the skills to know what is real and what is crap? Will the students personalize their education to the point where it becomes a problem solving approach? They ask a question and teacher assists them in finding the answers, find the answers within the massive amount of content both the good and bad content. Giving the students the skills to answer any questions they might have in life. Not teaching them content, but showing them how to find the answers to their questions. An exciting era of education but do we have the teachers who can get us there?
Take Back the Web..."I think it's better for everyone if we just give them a list of sites they can use when they do their papers," the principal said, "and tell them they have to have a certain number of those resources in the final product."
Dark age of information...Who is going to teach the teachers to adjust to this new reality? Is the day where the teachers behind their classroom door, entertain and teach with what he/she has in their head or in their textbook rapidly becoming a thing of the past? Are the schools ready to remove the walls and welcome in the information age?
Take Back the Web...Instead of teaching effective use of the tool, the easy way is to limit the reach of the tool, rein it in and limit its effect. If that is or will become the prevailing view, we are all in serious, serious trouble...
The words from the Dark Age of Information after reading Take Back the Web ring so true...
The Dark Age of Information...Are the schools ready to remove the walls and welcome in the information age? I for one do not think so. I think there is going to be an era of adjustment? An era called the dark age of information. An era where the high school system will not be able to meet the needs of their students, an era where the universities will be rapidly trying to adjust to the demands of the new connect students entering their halls. The administration of both types of institutions come from a time where the students were different, they are not going to understand the new type of student. This lack of understanding will result in a slow reforming of the system.
Until the connected students become the administration and effect the changes need to make the system work we will be in a dark age of information.
Too much information.
Students who understand how to navigate the web.
Teachers who do not.
Students who have no one to show them what is good and what is bad.
A system of education in which students and teachers do not connect.
The result is a dark age of information.
A little pessimistic but still a view through the worried cyber glasses and proof positive by words of Take Back the Web.
Take Back the Web
Very few articles have bothered me as much as this one does. The richness of the world wide web is the best thing to hit education since the Bic Pen. To even hint at the lack of vision that is suggested in this article makes me laugh. It makes me worry as well because it is not that uncommon of a view amoungs educators. Control is the key word, not education.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Blending Problem-based learning with Web Technology.
World Wide Web (Web)-based learning (WBL), problem-based learning (PBL), and collaborative learning are at present the most powerful educational options in higher education. A blended (hybrid) course combines traditional face-to-face and WBL approaches in an educational environment that is nonspecific as to time and place. To provide educational services for an undergraduate second-year elective course in acid-base physiology, a rich, student-centered educational Web-environment designed to support PBL was created by using Web Course Tools courseware. The course is designed to require students to work in small collaborative groups using problem solving activities to develop topic understanding. The aim of the study was to identify the impact of the blended WBL-PBL-collaborative learning environment on student learning outcomes. Student test scores and satisfaction survey results from a blended WBL-PBL-based test group (n = 37) were compared with a control group whose instructional opportunities were from a traditional in-class PBL model (n = 84). WBL students scored significantly (t = 3.3952; P = 0.0009) better on the final acid-base physiology examination and expressed a positive attitude to the new learning environment in the satisfaction survey. Expressed in terms of a difference effect, the mean of the treated group (WBL) is at the 76th percentile of the untreated (face-to-face) group, which stands for a "medium" effect size. Thus student progress in the blended WBL-PBL collaborative environment was positively affected by the use of technology.
February 17, 2005
DVD copying thwarted...sounds like a challenge.
A new technology from Macrovision Corp. claims to block virtually all known methods for making unauthorized copies of DVDs.
The company's RipGuard DVD, launched this week, is designed to thwart cracking programs that get around the encryption system used in standard DVDs.
Yahoo! News - Technology Claims to Thwart DVD Copying
DVD copy Protection Strengthened
It will be interesting to see how long it takes someone to break this protection.
BBC NEWS | Technology | DVD copy protection strengthened
The Fight Over Cyber Oversight
A recent security breach at data aggregator ChoicePoint was the topic of conversation Wednesday during a discussion about government regulation and corporate liability at the RSA Conference on security in San Francisco.
Panelists discussing who should be responsible for company security breaches that result in identity theft or economic loss to customers were divided on whether government regulation would help improve security.
Wired News: The Fight Over Cyber Oversight
February 16, 2005
Reference Guide for Instructional Design and Development.
Instructional design is the process through which an educator determines the best teaching methods for specific learners in a specific context, attempting to obtain a specific goal. This reference guide is designed to help you apply sound principles of design to the creation of your courses. The overview presented here is based on the model developed by Walter Dick and Lou Carey, which provides a systematic, step-by-step approach to designing (and then improving) effective and objectives-based instruction. Keep in mind that the content is presented here in a linear manner, but there will always be movement between and among phases. Also, remember that not all of these phases may apply to your situation. Depending on your needs, you may work through this reference guide in a linear manner, using the Back and Next buttons on the left side of the screen, or you can click the phase and section that apply only to your current interests and requirements.
Reference Guide for Instructional Design and Development
Eight Years of Email Stats
What's the reality behind the 'email overload' talk? Let's look at some numbers... personal numbers.
To kick things off, I've got a huge email archive. I started emailing in the early ArpaNet days, around 1972, and haven't stopped since. My archive has been extremely thorough for at least the past 12 years (and, in case you think I'm nuts for keeping all of these, my actual regret from a scientific/archive perspective is that I don't have the earlier ones too!). Why? Let's just say that one day I planned to do an analysis of it all... types of mails, social networks, the whole works. But things got a little out of hand.... (anyone lookin' for some data, give me a shout... but first read on)...
Eight years of email stats, pass 1: Corante > Get Real >
Creating Flexible E-Learning
For five years, Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT), a unit within the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG), has worked with faculty and staff to develop the eCore, an electronically delivered core curriculum for the University System of Georgia. The eCore contains courses leading to the completion of the first two years of an undergraduate degree.
The ALT unit is also charged with assisting faculty and staff in using technology successfully, creating meaningful learning experiences, and expanding access to educational opportunities and resources. ALT leveraged eCore to meet these challenges by making the eCore courses available for faculty to reuse in developing their own face-to-face and online courses. In 2000, we began making these courses available on a Web site called SCOUT--Sharing Content Online for University Teaching. Stored in the WebCT Campus Edition course management system, courses were available only in their entirety. While this proved a good first step for content sharing, faculty members had to take an entire course even if they wanted just a single element, making the content somewhat cumbersome to use. They had to navigate through the course in linear fashion to find the text, images, graphs, charts, or clips they wanted for their own courses, as there was no efficient way to search a course or collection of courses for specific resources.
EDUCAUSE Quarterly | Volume 27 Number 4 2004
The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology.
The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (EET) is a collection of short multimedia articles on a variety of topics related to the fields of instructional design and education and training. The primary audiences for the EET are students and novice to intermediate practitioners in these fields, who need a brief overview as a starting point to further research on specific topics. Authors are graduate students, professors, and others who contribute voluntarily. Articles are short and use multimedia to enrich learning rather than merely decorate the pages.
Encyclopedia of Educational Technology
Online Student Evaluation of Teaching
Given the limited number of currently available resources, one public mid-western university is working to develop and implement an effective and appropriate means for online student evaluation of teaching in distance education courses that is useful and beneficial for all stakeholders -- student, faculty, and administration.
Because traditional methods have proven insufficient in addressing the breadth of instructional delivery and course design methods, the university began a pilot project supporting online evaluation for distance education courses in spring 2003. This paper outlines the issues considered and challenges faced in the search to employ reliable and valid online student evaluation for distance education courses, to maximize the benefits associated with electronic data gathering and reporting, and to meet the organizational and logistical challenges inherent in such an endeavor.
February 15, 2005
Navigating Copyright
A booklet on copyright released today will be made available to every teacher and school board in Canada. The Copyright Consortium of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), the Canadian School Boards Association (CSBA), and the Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) jointly announced today the release of an updated Copyright Matters!, a booklet designed to answer frequently asked questions about copyright in schools. Copies of the booklet, which can be found on-line and in print, will be distributed broadly across Canada.
K-12 Education Curriculum
CIESE sponsors and designs interdisciplinary projects that teachers throughout the world can use to enhance their curriculum through compelling use of the Internet. We focus on projects that utilize real time data available from the Internet, and collaborative projects that utilize the Internet's potential to reach peers and experts around the world. Below is a catalog of projects that are currently being or have been sponsored by CIESE . Each project has a brief description and links to the National Science Standards and NCTM math standards it supports.
CIESE - Curriculum: K-12 CIESE Online Classroom Projects
Online Education
State reports rank online schools behind traditional schools on test scores.
Test scores don't tell the whole story, according to both online school administrators and those in Moffat County.
For one thing, online education students aren't held to the same standards as determined by the same tests.
Students in schools that offered traditional and online education took Colorado Student Assessment Program tests, and a higher percentage earned "unsatisfactory" scores on the math portion. And online students were forced to repeat grades four times more often than students with a traditional education.
The Craig Daily Press: Online education
February 14, 2005
The Hybrid Challenge
Developing a hybrid course involves more than simply uploading online articles into Blackboard or WebCT and slapping together a discussion board. To be effective, hybrid models must be carefully planned and structured. Here's what instructors must keep in mind, and how they can either have a tremendously successful learning event or end up with disgruntled, confused students.
How to stop Junk E-mail.
Today, however, we meekly assume that the recipient of e-mail must bear the costs. It is nominally free, of course, but it arrives in polluted form. Cleaning out the stuff once it reaches our in-box, or our Internet service provider's, is irritating beyond words, costly even without per-message postage. This muck - Hotmail alone catches about 3.2 billion unsolicited messages a day - is a bane of modern life.
Teaching Students to Swim in the Online Sea.
INFORMATION literacy seems to be a phrase whose time has come. Last month, the Educational Testing Service announced that it had developed a test to measure students' ability to evaluate online material. That suggested an official recognition that the millions spent to wire schools and universities is of little use unless students know how to retrieve useful information from the oceans of sludge on the Web.
Clearly, "computer skills" are not enough. A teacher of Scandinavian literature at Berkeley recently described how students used the Web to research a paper on the Vikings: "They're Berkeley students, so, of course, they have the sense to restrict their searches to 'vikings NOT minnesota.' But they're perfectly willing to believe a Web site that describes early Viking settlements in Oklahoma."
The New York Times > Week in Review > Course Correction: Teaching Students to Swim in the Online Sea
February 11, 2005
Teachers...Think before you blog.
In light of recent events, Tom has given me the job of beginning the "teacher blogging at work" guidelines discussion, and I have to say I'm not sure I relish the assignment. It's a much needed discussion, no doubt. But by its very nature, it's a sensitive issue that I'm not sure there are any absolute rules to successfully navigate through. On the K-12 public school level, at least, it depends on your board, your superintendent, your community, your personality...way too many variables to set something in stone.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Schools link up via cyberspace.
Some of the best schools in Malaysia will be linked up to certain schools in the United Kingdom to enable the sharing of experience, particularly in information and communications technology (ICT).
Schools link up via cyberspace
Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers
Preparing tomorrow's teachers to recognize and harness the potential of technology within their content areas is seen as a vital role of teacher education institutions throughout the United States
CITE Journal - Current Practice
Most Classroom Learning Sucks
The problem with most corporate/adult learning programs is that they're just like school. And the problem with school is that it sucks. It works against the way the brain wants to learn.
Creating Passionate Users: Most classroom learning sucks
February 10, 2005
Canada's Population Clock
Canada's population clock
Source: Statistics Canada, Demography division.
You need the free Macromedia Flash Player 6 to view the clock.
The clock is using the annual growth rate (0.903%) measured for the year ending on June 30th, 2004. By applying this rate to the estimated Canadian population as of July 1st, 2004 and by taking into account that 2004 is a leap year, Canada's population is growing by one unit every one minute and 50 seconds.
The Beauty of CSS Design
A demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS-based design.
css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design
Learning theory=instructional design.
I saw this article listed on elearningpost and had to make a comment. The link to the learning principles is appreciated but I have to take issue with the statement on elearningpost.com that: "These can also be viewed as design principles."
NO THAT IS NOT CORRECT! Learning theory does not equate directly to design theory. They are quite different entities, though one can and should inform the other.
I think the person who did the best job of clarifying this difference for me is Dr. Molenda in IST at Indiana University (his retirement this year will leave a void in the field).
He used analogy to the medical field that I have thought about quite a bit and tried to add to with my own examples. A doctor has a theory on how a disease progresses or is transmitted. This theory would inform the doctor about prognosis, likelihood of passing the disease to someone else, etc. This is analogous to learning theory.
Situativity: Learning Theory Does NOT = Instructional Design Theory
Online K-12 and the Choice Movement
This article describes the amazing boom in online K-12 schools. While the numbers struck me as interesting (one Colorado school had more than 1,000 students sign up in a short time and was getting $15 million in state funding), the article had a somewhat negative tone regarding online K-12 schools.
"Cyberschools are the 800-pound gorilla of the choice movement, although vouchers and charter schools get a lot more attention," said William Moloney..."
To me it seems the issue of choice is the real driver. It is not that online schools will "take over" or completely replace school as we know it but that choice for students and parents is increasing. Over time I am sure many models will emerge that include online, traditional, and mixed educational modes. Personalization, not distance or technology is what people want. It means that the typical school bureaucracy might actually have to become more responsive to the needs of the students and parents!
Situativity: Online K-12 and the Choice Movement
February 9, 2005
Technology for the Masses
Some days you wake up and it seems like there's a quick shift in the technology universe. It's not much of a change, but still, it's something different. Interestingly enough, when these shifts happen, they always seem to be about corroborating a growing trend of consumer demand.
In my mind, yesterday was one of those days. I got out of bed and started scanning the daily headlines. Before I had made much headway, it was already apparent that there was something strange afoot. All kinds of breakthroughs were popping up on the headline horizons. And, in each case, what I saw was a case of a business or technology development that embraced what the public has already been voting for. In a way, each of the things I saw was a kind of affirmation that there were more than mere trends at stake here.
Parade Dragon Puppet
Chinese New Year
Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries, which predates the International Calendar (based on the Grigorian Calendar) we use at the present day which goes back only some 425 years. The calendar measures time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in months, years and centuries, entirely based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars.
Chinese New Year - 2005 is the Year of Yiyou, popularly known as the Year of the Rooster. 2004 is the Year of the Monkey. 2003 is the Year of the Goat
The Chinese Calendar
Chinese New Year is the main holiday of the year for more than one quarter of the world's population. Although the People's Republic of China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, a special Chinese calendar is used for determining festivals. Various Chinese communities around the world also use this calendar. At right, a large dragon lantern glows at a festival for Chinese New Year at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. Taipei, Taiwan.
History & info - the Chinese calendar
New Tear's Eve
The bustle and clamor at the markets selling colorful spring couplets and other New Year's decorations . . . Beginning in mid-December, families all around China start preparing for Chinese New Year, creating an atmosphere of joy and renewal.
Discarding the Old and Heralding in the New -- New Year's Eve and Chinese New Year
Lunar New Year in Taiwan
The Lunar New Year is the most significant festival for ethnic Chinese around the world, wherever they come from. It is a very jubilant occasion mainly because it is the time when people take a break from work to get together with family and friends.
Crafts and Activities for Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is a very important holiday in China. It is celebrated in late January to early February (depending on the year). Chinese New Year starts on a New Moon and ends with the lantern festival on the full moon 15 days later.
In 2004, Chinese New Year is celebrated on February 9; the year 2005 is the Year of the Rooster. In the Chinese calendar, it is the year 4703.
These crafts projects are for preschool, kindergarten and elementary school children. The crafts use materials found around the house, like cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, etc. See a page about color mixing to see how to combine paint to make all the colors of the rainbow.
Crafts and Activities for Chinese New Year - EnchantedLearning.com
February 8, 2005
Instructional Design for Online Learning
Criteria for success: I attended an online seminar for Online Educators, during which the following criteria were agreed upon as a starting point for creating a successful online course. They're listed in no particular order.
Clearly articulated objectives and expectations
An easily navigable web site
A course structure that facilitates collaborative learning
Assignments and activities that facilitate participation and communication among students
Timely feedback for students from the Instructor
An appropriate use of technologies to enhance learning
A discussion space for learners to talk openly about the course (expectations, uncertainty, what they like, dislike, their participation, progress etc.)
Creating Courses - Instructional Design
Online Learning Sweatshops
Recently. MSNBC ran an article pointing to the court cases spawned by virtual worlds . According to the article, a virtual island in one of the massive multi-player online role playing games (MMORPGs) sold for $30,000, enough to attract commercial attention. Apparently, some businesses create third-world sweatshops, where low-wage laborers are being paid to play and accumulate enough virtual merchandise, so that an eBay sale of it makes the operation profitable.
This may seem a long way from Kathy Lee Gifford and the Honduran sweatshop that employed child workers to make her Wal-Mart-bound blouses, yet the principles aren't too dissimilar. Design, or high-level work for sweatshop projects is done in wealthier countries and then the manual portion of the labor is completed offshore, preferably in a place where the labor costs are much lower.
Fifty Writing Tools
At times, it helps to think of writing as carpentry. That way, writers and editors can work from a plan and use tools stored on their workbench. You can borrow a writing tool at any time. And here's a secret: Unlike hammers, chisels, and rakes, writing tools never have to be returned. They can be cleaned, sharpened, and passed on.
Poynter Online - Fifty Writing Tools
Copyright: Who owns Weblog content?
Interesting story from Information Week on copyright and other legal rights associated with employee blogs and RSS - issues that are likely to crop up more and more often as blogs become more popular.
Confidentiality, ownership, and liability are all significant questions in employee blogs. For example, when an employee is asked to maintain a blog as part of his/her job, it can be seen as a simple work-for-hire situation where the content is owned by the employer, but things get more complicated when employees maintain personal blogs that trade in some way on the employee's status with a company.
The article presents a nice synopsis of these issues, touching a bit less on issues related to RSS, such as aggregators' right to essentially "republish" content through sydication.
Online Learning: COPYRIGHT: Who Owns Weblog Content?
Spam 95% of all email
Vnunet.com reports that Spamhaus predicts that, at the current rate of increase, 95% of all email traffic will be spam by the middle of 2006.
I believe that blacklists and filters are not enough. Eventually, we'll need to move to use social networks to our advantage to include FOAF in an email solution that filters spam. Most current current filtering systems work on identifying spam and then let everything else through. We need the reverse: a method of authenticating/identifying good email and block everything else. By using our address books and creating a system for connecting public friends lists, we can screen for likely good email based on who we know and who those people know.
As spam approaches 95 per cent of all email, what do we do? | Kairosnews
February 7, 2005
Calling all blogs
I am trying to put together a blog roll of which has a list of blog whose focus or authors are from the k-12 Online schools group. These blogs will be listed on the Association for Online K-12 Online schools. If you know of such a blog let us know via email (cyber@scs.sk.ca) or comment to this posting. There is no charge for this listing, we would just like to add blogs to the list of resources available to our members.
Spread the work you blogging type people so we can get the message out there.
February 6, 2005
GuestMap...very cool
A couple of days ago, I started an association for online K-12 schools. One of the tools that I added to the site was a guestmap, it is very cool. I got the tool from www.bravenet.com and even paid for the registered version. I placed it on the association site hoping that people would add online K-12 schools that they know about or are involved with through teaching or administration. To date I have two schools and one of them is the one that I run.
This is a plea to all of you cyber teachers out there, come to the association website and place a pin in the map of where your cyber school is located in the world. It will be good free advertising for the school and then I will not have wasted my money on registering the tool....plus....This is such a cool tool, I want to see a few more pins in it.
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/aok12s/
Virtual High School Legislation
Local high school students could access a whole new academic world under a bill passed by state legislators.
The "Georgia Virtual High School" would allow students to take advanced courses online. The program will be available to public, private and home-schooled students, but public school pupils will have a priority in the program.
Thomson High School Principal Rudy Falana said he doesn't expect the new legislation to have much of an impact until the 2006-2007 school year.
Improving Retention
Much has been written about retention in distance learning courses. Authors have different ideas about what causes students to drop out of these courses. Some of the issues include lack of instructor training, poor course design, lack of student interaction, and personal commitments. Few actual studies have been done to provide evidence for these assumptions. This paper provides possible solutions to the problem of retention and offers suggestions for improvement in the entire field of distance education.
Improving Retention in Distance Learning Classes
February 5, 2005
Homework Help @ the Library
CyberSleuth Kids
CyberSleuth Kids.com :Student Homework Helper
Homework Help Math
Homework Help
National Geographic Homework Help (history, geography, maps)
Homework Helper
DiscoverySchool.com offers help with homework from BJ Pinchbeck.
February 4, 2005
Using Computers in Education
Using the blogger in the classroom would be a rewarding experience. Though seeming tedious when first beginning the blogging experience, then turned into something that I enjoyed doing. The sites that I found to blog were both fun, interesting, and I would be able to use them once I begin teaching! This is going to save me time and stress when it comes down to finding engaging activities for the students to do.
Am I Really Doing Students a Favor?
At the heart of all this is a basic internal conflict I have regarding whether or not I'm really doing anyone a favor or not. On the one hand, I feel like I'm helping these students out, all of them with special circumstances, by letting them add the course and complete work towards their degree. On the other hand, I wonder if I'm doing more harm than good because having to cram that much work into several weeks puts a lot of additional stress on people. It also reduces the actual effectiveness of the course. I mean, the whole class is designed with a definite pedagogical purpose. The students are getting short changed a bit when they run through the material that fast.
E-Learning Acupuncture
With the rapid expansion of the field of e-learning in the last ten years educational institutions are faced with a major ethical dilemma: how to adapt current copyright legislation to fit the new e-learning phenomenon. Digital rights management is a field that is not legislatively mature and in Canada, like most other jurisdictions, copyright laws pertaining to printed works are adapted when assessing copyright restrictions of digital works; however, the practical aspects of how to implement this adaptation has proven to be challenging.
e-Learning Acupuncture: Copyright Code of Ethics in e-Learning
Circumsoect Blogging
Freedom of speech is a tricky thing, since speech and publishing (including blogging) can have all sorts of consequences. Whenever you're concerned about possible consequences, that makes your speech a little less free. Reckless speech can cost you dearly. That tradeoff may not be ideal, but that's life.
Contentious » Circumspect Blogging
When Blogging Goes Bad.
Like email and the World Wide Web in their times, blogs have become the "killer app" of the moment. Three years ago, all but the most hardcore of followers of Internet phenomenons would not have thought much of the term "blog," other than perhaps it was a misspelling of "blob." Now you know you are most certainly not a mainstream Internet user if you are unaware that "blog" is an adaptation of the term "Web Log," and that blogs exist as personal journals, professional writing spaces, news sources, or some combination of all of the above.
February 2, 2005
Association of Online K-12 Schools
The first newsletter of the Association of Online K-12 Schools was released today. You can view it at the following address: AOK12S Newsletter
Groundhog Day Links
Groundhog Day Activities
Groundhog Day Hidden Message
Groundhog Day Wordsearch
Groundhog Day Links
CanTeach Groundhog Day
CanTeach: Songs & Poems - Groundhog Day
Punxsutawney Phil
Stormfax Weather Almanac
Groundhog Day History from Stormfax®
Project Groundhog 2005
Project Groundhog
Project Groundhog Poems and Rhymes
Groundhog.org
Groundhog .org - the Official Site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club
Groundhog Day Party
Celebrate Groundhog Day with a bunch of activities, some Internet exploration, and a variety of groundhog games. Fun for all ages!
Education World ® - Lesson Planning: Come to the Groundhog Day Party!
Activities and Crafts for Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is celebrated in the USA on February 2nd. Each year on this day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, people from all over the USA watch Phil the Groundhog as he emerges from his burrow.
On Groundhog Day, Phil the Groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter's hibernation. If he sees his shadow, he is thought to return to his hole (some people think this is an omen of six more weeks of bad winter weather). If he doesn't see his shadow (i.e., if it is cloudy), he is thought to stay above ground (some people think of this as a sign of mild weather to come).
These crafts projects are for preschool, kindergarten and elementary school children. The crafts use inexpensive materials found around the house, like egg cartons, cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, etc. See a page about color mixing to see how to combine paint to make all the colors of the rainbow.
Groundhog Day Crafts - EnchantedLearning.com
Groundhog Day
On February 2, the world will be watching to see if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow. Will his shadow predict six more weeks of winter? Whether Phil's shadow appears or not, Phil your Groundhog Day with connections to math, science, geography, and more.
Education World ® Lesson Planning: Groundhog Day: (Punxsutawney) Phil Your Day With Fun
Wiarton Willie's 2005 Festival
While Willie is sleeping, the Town is gearing up for the big prediction. There is a lot of anticipation in the streets, a committee of enthusiastic residents has been planning for several months and we are all very excited about the coming events. It all starts off in Sauble Beach with Winterfest and the Battle of the Bands to wake up Willie. On February 2nd we can enjoy a Pancake Breakfast at The Meeting Place and watch our prognosticating Groundhog, Wiarton Willie, make his famous prediction. CKCO TV's Dave McDonald will MC the occasion with Willie's "Shadow Cabinet" joining in the fun. After the announcement, one can enjoy a Wine Tasting adventure at the Waterview Resort and on the weekend..... there is food and fun for everyone!!!
Wiarton Willie - Welcome to Wiarton Willie's Website
Math Extensions Grade 6-9
Math Extension Activities Grades 6 to 9
Math Resources
Math Resources for Elementary Students
February 1, 2005
Connectivism
Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learning theories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories, however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn. Learning needs and theories that describe learning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying social environments. Vaill emphasizes that "learning must be a way of being -- an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups that they employ to try to keep abreast of the surprising, novel, messy, obtrusive, recurring events..." (1996, p.42).
Students, schools benefit from online classwork.
In her Advanced Placement biology class, Lauren Baker is learning about organisms, the environment, and time management.
The junior at Tiffin Columbian High School is taking the course online through Virtual High School, a Massachusetts-based consortium that lets districts across the country supplement their curriculums with online classes.
