September 2005
September 30, 2005
Still Grading Papers?
We've all thought about it before. Usually the thought occurs when we're dog tired, underfed, our wrists splintering in carpal tunnel agony. And then we circle the four hundredth comma splice and cry, "WHY DIDN'T I GO INTO MATH INSTEAD?" Well, help has arrived.
Still Grading Papers? Try Outsourcing! | Kairosnews
A friday type entry.
Sick of Writing Research Papers? Have the Wikipedia Community Do It!.
Dan Mitchell's Teachnology Blog : News
September 29, 2005
FeedShot
Submit your Blog or RSS Feed to the top search engines for free
FeedShot: The Original Blog Search Submission Tool
w-learning indicators 2005
The 2005 E-learning Benchmarking Project has, for the first time in July-August 2005, undertaken national surveys of the uptake and use of e-learning by vocational educational and training (VET) providers, clients and teachers, and the results are now available
e-learning indicators | survey results
September 28, 2005
MyProgs
This site allows you to keep a social list of the programs you use. After you sign up you can add programs to your unique list. You can view anyone else's programs and they can view yours. Extra user-defined data can be added to each program entry to organize and describe the program further such as program descriptions, a link to the program's homepage, and tags. You can use tags to categorize (and thus organize) programs so that you and others using this site will have an easier time finding new and interesting programs.
Safe blogging tool for kids
Schools demand a safe, collaborative environment for their communication and Web browsing needs
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Safe blogging tool for kids, classroom
September 27, 2005
Scotland poised for 'world's first' schools intranet
The Scottish Executive has sealed a multi-million pound deal to link up every pupil and teacher through what is said to be the world's first national school intranet.
Digital Media Europe: News - Scotland poised for 'world's first' schools intranet
Teens, like, do lots at once
A new study of 13- to 24-year-olds in 11 countries has revealed that teens prefer to listen to music over the Internet than radio. Also, they are multitaskers. Teens, on average, perform about three to four other tasks while surfing the Internet and two to three others tasks while watching television, the study commissioned by Yahoo and the OMD advertising agency found.
Teens, like, do lots at once | News.blog | CNET News.com
September 26, 2005
Cognitive Styles and Learner Variables
This study examines how students’ cognitive styles are correlated with their attitudes toward online education and learning behaviors in online learning environments. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the attitude survey toward online instruction were administered to 104 students enrolled in various online courses at the University of Tennessee. The study findings revealed that students’ cognitive styles were not significantly correlated with their attitudes and preference for instructional delivery modes while other factors such as previous online learning experience and computer competency were significantly correlated with students’ learning outcomes and attitudes toward online instruction.
The Web 2.0 is here.
Web 2.0 is white hot at the moment, and not just because of the hype, but because of the insane amount of stuff that's being built for it right now.
The Web 2.0 Is Here (web2.wsj2.com)
Map of the Web 2.0 World
When looking at the world of web 2.0 I think that you can categorize the companies and products into a few different areas
Web Service Finder: Map of the Web 2.0 World
September 23, 2005
Google Print
Access has published excerpts from a dicussion of the future of the ebook. Chuck Hamaker and Toby Green discuss how books should be indexed and accessible by chapter along the line of article-based distribution (such as with ejournals--one can access the individual article without having to access the entire text). Both agree that Google Print can play an important role in this.
The future of the book & Goggle Print | Kairosnews
Tips for the Crusading Blogger
A Paris-based media watchdog has released a free guide with tips for bloggers and dissidents to sneak past Internet censors in countries from China to Iran.
Wired News: Tips for the Crusading Blogger
September 22, 2005
Year two anniversary.
On August 30th the Teaching and Developing Online blog was two years old. I would have posted on that day...but I was too busy. So I am doing it today.
The Teaching and Learning online blog has been up and running for two years and has grown into an even greater community of e-learners.
To which you might ask how I know it is a great community.
To which I responded
Good question :)
Feedback from the subscribers, my teachers and my developers who work at SCCS make up the community. The stats collected show that it is visited by 25 to 50 people a day, half who are unique visitors and the other half returnees. It has been pinged by some of the other
elearning blogs out there. The growth of the world-wide community has even shocked myself, I have subscribers from Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, India, Spain, France, Hong Kong, Mexico, Philippines, China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Province of China, Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Brazil, Israel, Sweden, Portugal, Thailand, Korea, Republic of South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Indonesia, Switzerland, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Puerto Rico, Croatia, Denmark, Oman, Ireland, Venezuela, Finland, Norway, Czech Republic, Poland, Chile, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Nigeria, Romania, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Bahrain, Qatar,Argentina, Russian Federation, Vietnam, Iceland, Ghana, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia, Bulgaria, Barbados, Morocco, Peru, Jordan, Lithuania, Greece, Bolivia, Kenya, Bhutan, Belarus, Ukraine, Tunisia, Bermuda, Rwanda, Slovenia, Saint Lucia, Brunei Darussalam, Mozambique, Europe, Benin, Mauritius, Madagascar, Northern Mariana Islands, Uganda, Costa Rica, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Andorra, Malta, Macao, Senegal, Guatemala, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Palestinian Territory, Uzbekistan, El Salvador, Yugoslavia, Cote D'Ivoire, Guyana, Suriname, Uruguay, Azerbaijan, Bahamas and Sudan
This is a great community (my opinion) compared to the email method I was using in the past to share information with my staff and other who I would meet at conferences or on the web.
Many of the people who attended my presentations on e-learning have asked for good sites pertaining to a topic. In the past, my response would be a search of my sent emails to my staff who work in different subject areas find the appropriate material and then forward it via email. Now, all the sites and comments are saved in one location, the blog. My 26 staff members forward material they find that they like, comments and suggestions pertaining to online teaching and developing and I add them to the blog. This (my opinion) is why it has grown into a community of learners.
Hope this answered your question.
Just my view through my cyber glasses.
Online courses offer flexibility.
The Exponent - Purdue's Independent Student Newspaper
Let us learn to solve problems
In the ITForum discussion of David Jonassen's problem-based theory of learning, Thad Crews laments the lack of empirical evidence to support the theory. This article examines the role of empirical evidence with respect to Jonassen's theory and argues that acceptance (or non-acceptance) is not so much a matter of experimentation as of the adoption of one or another conceptual framework.
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Dr. Jonassen- Let Us Learn to Solve Problems
Should school administrators blog?
One reason is that Michael Lach (the Director of Science for the Chicago Public Schools) like many others who have created blogs, is simply trying to explain a hidden part of the education system. "I do this to make it clearer about what large urban school system bureaucrats do," says Lach. "When I was a teacher, I always wanted to know what people in my position were thinking. I believe strongly that by engaging in a dialogue we collectively deepen our understanding and our practice."
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Should school administrators blog?
Should school administrators blog?
Teaching Writing
This narrative inquiry reveals some behavior of digital-era students learning writing in a new digital classroom. The teaching methods, the physical design of the classroom, and the impact of the new technology are observed, along with the pedagogical theories in use. I suggest that a basic and significant change in students' writing behavior has occurred as a result of students' previous experience with online computers.
College Quarterly - Spring 2005
September 21, 2005
Web 2.0
If you haven't heard of it, you will: Web 2.0. It's exploding into conversations online at the moment. Is it a useful way of describing the way that the web is turning to a distributed environment where users push/pull/share content in communicative acts rather than just visiting static virtual spaces?
Web 2.0: The new buzzword in Internet technology | Kairosnews
Why does...
Why is it considered necessary to nail down the lid of a coffin?
Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance that little indestructible black box is?
Can fat people go skinny-dipping?
If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation?
If a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose?
So what's the speed of dark?
How come abbreviated is such a long word?
Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?
Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?
If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the OTHERS here for?
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a Train stops On my desk, I have a work station..
If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with, "Quit while you're ahead"?
Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?
What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
Should women put pictures of missing husbands on beer cans?
Why do people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older ... they were cramming for their finals!
Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office?
What are we supposed to do . . . write to these men?
How much deeper would oceans be if sponges didn't live there?
Clones are people two.
If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there, is he still wrong?
If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
I went for a walk last night and my kids asked me how long I'd be gone. I said, "The whole time."
After eating, do amphibians need to wait an hour before getting OUT of the water?
Why don't they just make mouse-flavored cat food?
If you're sending someone some Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?
I just got skylights put in my place. The people who live above me are furious.
Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?
Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse?
Whose cruel idea was it for the word "lisp" to have an "s" in it?
Why can't you find fresh sardines in the fish market?
Why do so many old people eat at cafeterias?
Why does Wendy's have square hamburgers?
Why does an "X" stand for a kiss?
Why does the word "Filipino" start with the letter F ?
Why are the copyright dates on movies and television shows written in Roman numbers?
What did you do last year?
So…here I sit…five years into the development of the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. Our staff has grown to 19 teachers, counsellor, chaplain and two on-line learning registrar (secretaries). Last year we taught 2083 units (class sections), 1055 high school, 517 elementary, 171 learning communities, 77 hybrid, 26 communication hubs, 52 parent portals and the balance being miscellaneous. The courses we offer are:
Grade 12 2004
Calculus 30
Chemistry 30
Christian Ethics 30
English Language Arts A30
English Language Arts B30
Mathematics A30
Physics 30
Grade 11 2004
Christian Ethics 20
Chemistry 20
Creative Writing 20
Information Processing 20
Journalism 20
Math 20
Media Studies 20
Physics 20
Grade 10 2004
Christian Ethics 10
English as a Second Language
Information Processing 10
Mathematics 10
Grade 9 2004
Mathematics 90
Mathématiques 90
Preparation Course
New Courses for 2005-2006
History 30
Mathematics B30
We are developing Special Physical education grade 11 and 12, Core Ukrainian 10 and Biology 30.
And believe it or not this year is even going to better than the last.
September 20, 2005
Examples of Instructional Materials.
Many people know that I regularly search the Web for examples of good instructional materials. Because folks often ask me for a list of the good ones that I find, I've decided to keep a web page with these good instructional examples.
Learning Peaks, LLC: Examples of Instructional Materials on the Web
Preparing Students
The skills for learning are not necessarily innate, and in particular, the skills for learning with technology need to be recognised and made more explicit. However, regardless of discipline, the development of preparatory courses for students to equip them with the skills for eLearning is essential if maximum benefit is to be garnered from the potential of this exciting means of teaching and learning.
Preparing Students for Learning in an Online World
Is Your Child Learning ?
The only way to transform K education is not to disintermediate the teacher with technology but to work at the system design level using eLearning the way it is used...
Is Your Child Learning What He/She Needs to Know? :: AO
National Education Technology Plan.
No Child Left Behind sets forth a bold and systemic framework for reform to close the achievement gap: supporting stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods proven to work. At the heart of this effort is a commitment to support teachers, parents, and decision makers in refocusing and realigning their efforts to ensure every child receives the best possible education.
National Education Technology Plan
From ape to 'Homo digitas'?
"The vision (is) of someone glued to a chair, focused on a screen, interacting as an object, a person whose main identification is as a digital creature, who doesn't know what to do without a signal," said Zittrain, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.
From ape to 'Homo digitas'? | CNET News.com
Changing education.
But how many teachers can even design an effective presentation in PowerPoint? How many take advantage of the professional development opportunities available to them? How many internalize technology tools as significant and mission-critical tools required to teach today's kids. Sadly, the news is not good. Blogs? Digital Textbooks? Cell phones and iPods? Are you kidding me?
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
How Boyish or Girlish are you?
So... I took the test and here are my results...
| You Are 70% Boyish and 30% Girlish |
|
You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be. |
September 19, 2005
Changing Education
Thomas Friedman continues to make the case for change in education today in the soon to be closed New York Times opinion pages. It's about efforts in Singapore to bring high level math instruction to students. And the good news (I think) is it's all about the changes we've been talking about in this community for quite some time now: creation and sharing of content, collaboration, a shifting notion of what it means to teach.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Portrait of a Digital Native
In his post today, Tom posts some goals he's set out for his teaching this year, and I think they are definitely worth noting:
-to honor the knowledge that students and their parents can bring to the classroom
-to find ways to make the learning more meaningful to them by offering them choices and giving students the tools needed to take control of their learning.
-to provide opportunities for collaboration with different communities of learners, educators, and experts in the field
-to provide opportunities to write for a real audience
-make the planning process transparent – encouraging student and parent involvement
-making reflection (from both student and teachers) a regular part of the learning and teaching process
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Listening to users.
I personally think that user-centered design is a “safe-design” methodology. You practice it because you want your product or solution to be acceptable or just plain viable. But to be truly usable it should also be remarkable.
September 16, 2005
Bill 602P: U.S. Postal Tax on Email
Netlore Archive: Another day, another email hoax – Federal Bill 602P, supposedly imposing a 5-cent tax on every email sent, does not exist
Bill 602P 5-Cent Postal Tax on Email - Netlore Archive
Bill 602P Hoaxes
Doesn't this stuff make ya laugh.
Alternate postage fees for email
This was an email I got the other day, is this something we should be concerned about?? Are they for real? I noticed the dates are old, has this been defeated? Does anyone out there know anything about this?
The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government
of Canada attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect your use of the Internet. Under proposed legislation Canada Post will be attempting to bill email users out of "alternate postage fees".
Bill 602P will permit the Federal Govt to charge a 5 cent surcharge on every email delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP. Toronto lawyer Richard Stepp QC is working to prevent this legislation from becoming law.
The Canada Post Corporation is claiming that lost revenue due to the proliferation of email is costing nearly $23,000,000 in revenue per year. You may have noticed Canada Post's recent ad campaign "There is nothing like a letter".
Since the average citizen received about 10 pieces of email per day in 1998, the cost to the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents per day, or over $180 dollars per year, above and beyond their regular Internet costs.
Note that this would be money paid directly to Canada Post for a service they do not even provide. The whole point of the Internet is democracy and non-interference. If the Canadian Government is permitted to tamper with our liberties by adding a surcharge to email, who knows where it will end.
You are already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of
beaurocratic inefficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a
letter to be delivered from Mississauga to Scarborough. If Canada Post
Corporation is allowed to tinker with email, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in Canada. One back-bencher, Liberal Tony Schnell (NB) has even suggested a "twenty to forty dollar per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the government's proposed email charges.
Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story, the
only exception being the Toronto Star that called the idea of email surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th 1999 Editorial).
Don't sit by and watch your freedoms erode away! Send this email to all Canadians on your list and tell your friends and relatives to write to their MP and say "No!" to Bill 602P.
September 15, 2005
Kids set for virtual world tour
Thousands of school children will be living a virtual life on the ocean waves for the next 11 months.
Every school in Liverpool is being invited to use a special internet classroom to follow the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race, which starts from Liverpool on Sunday, September 18.
Kids set for virtual world tour | eGov monitor
Building a Virtual High School
South Dakota’s Rapid City Academy finds out just what it takes to provide a diverse population of students the flexibility offered by online learning.
Building a Virtual High School...click by click
Education without borders
Across the world, more people than ever before are undertaking an international education. This report looks at the major factors contributing to the emergence of the global education market and finds that, more than any other region, Asia continues to shape global demand.
As populations grow and national incomes increase, countries in Asia are both investing more in domestic higher education and turning to international education to help meet surging demand for student places. Australia’s institutions are taking increasing numbers of international students and are establishing campuses offshore. International trade negotiations are liberalising education trade and contributing to the emergence of a borderless market for international education.
Education Without Borders: International Trade in Education
Teachers are wary
The ESRC study reveals that many teachers fear that computers would interfere with ‘genuine’ or book-based learning, particularly in the humanities and creative subjects and use ICT only for administration and routine tasks.
Bristol University - Classroom IT research
Education and Disadvantage
There is some very good research done in Australia in this site.
September 14, 2005
Math Quotes
Math Quotes from Platonic Realms
The Prime Ministers of Canada
EMR
Exercises in Math Readiness
Grammar, Syntax and Diction
There are a number of ways for teaching and learning grammar. The MSCTC Online Writing Lab takes a traditional approach for most of the pages on grammatical features, using the eight parts of speech as the foundation.
Minnesota State Community and Technical College Online Writing Lab
Interactive Mathematics
Everyone has to learn mathematics, but many people have no idea why they have to suffer through it. I believe that mathematics should be fun, interesting and relevant.
Here you can use Flash, Scientific Notebook and LiveMath interactive documents to explore mathematics and get a better understanding of what it all means.
So go ahead - play and learn!
Interactive Mathematics - Learn math while you play with it!
Chemical and Human Health
The Biology Project: Chemicals & Human Health
Teaching Ourselves Right Out of a Job
And we were talking about how few educators had made the Internet a significant part of their practice. If we're entering a world where much of what we do in business, communication, politics, etc. will be done online, we have to prepare our students for that reality. And the most effective way to teach these skills is to master them ourselves.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Five Points of Connectivity
New advances in technology, particularly in the area of higher education, provide instructors with more opportunities to engage students in the learning process. However, utilizing technology to promote learning in the classroom can be a double-edged sword. If properly implemented, technology can enhance students’ learning experiences, thus improving students’ mastery of the course material. But if used excessively, technology can cause passive behavior toward the subject and impede the learning process. As graduate students who have recently experienced both sides of the lectern, we would like to share our perspectives of how technology can help improve learning in the classroom.
EDUCAUSE REVIEW | September/October 2005, Volume 40, Number 5
Learners, Learning and Technology
The world of learning technology today is radically different from that of just a decade ago. And the world of learning technology a decade from now will be radically different from that of today. Learning technologies are in a state of “interpretive flexibility”: the technology itself is subject to change, as is also its application. However, learning technologies are affected not just by the possibilities of the technology but by our understanding of learning as well.
EDUCAUSE REVIEW | September/October 2005, Volume 40, Number 5
Google Blog Search
It has arrived Google Blog Search...check it out.
Teacher's Pet
For those of us who are glued to computers as a part of our job, we probably don't hesitate to use email to communicate with associates, family, friends, etc. For that reason, I thought that an article on how more teachers are employing email is significant: " The new ‘teacher’s pet’ is the computer".
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Teacher's pet - the education community discovers email
September 13, 2005
NetMechanic Link Check
It's the Webmaster's biggest headache: finding broken links in his or her Web site. With the Web constantly changing, link verification can be a major job even for small Web sites.
NetMechanic Link Check is a free online verification and validation tool that can help you find the broken links in your site.
Alexa
Save time with a free report of your links
Enter your information below and Alexa will crawl and analyze the links on your Web site. You will receive an E-Mail report which includes a list of broken links and links to out of stock and hard to find items.
Alexa Amazon Associates -- Site Report
September 12, 2005
In search of the perfect e-learner
It’s becoming common knowledge that e-learning is achieving inconsistent results. Some e-learners thrive on the increased flexibility and control that the medium provides; others wallow in isolation, struggling to make a start. In this article, Clive Shepherd examines the notion that some people are more suited to e-learning than others, while not discarding the idea that e-learning could be developed to become a medium for the masses.
In search of the perfect e-learner
Somewhere a place to learn.
The promise of e-learning to provide anytime, anyplace learning leaves us with an awful lot of options. But trainers and learners alike have to make a choice – what is the ideal environment in which to be an e-learner? In this article, Clive Shepherd explores the advantages and disadvantages associated with learning at the desktop, at home or in the learning centre, and comes to see how all options can work given the right conditions.
Preparing Students for Elearning
Elearning struggles with high drop out rates. The concept of anytime/anywhere learning often becomes never/nowhere. As many corporations and schools have discovered, the online medium, while still dealing with issues similar to classrooms, faces unacceptable rates of drop outs and failures.
Looking for answers...
elearnspace. everything elearning.
eLearners advisor
A free tool to help you determine if online education is right for you.
Is online college education right for you? - eLearnersAdvisor.com
What Makes a Good e-Learner?
Nobody said the journey of educational pursuit was going to be an easy one. There are bound to be bumps along the way in terms of sacrifices to be made. It's challenging enough to bring yourself to say "Today I will cancel my date to attend class" or "This weekend I will devote 5 hours to my assignment"; it's doubly testing for an e-Learner who is not bounded by class attendance.
What then are the key elements of success as identified by PurpleTrain.com students? Here are their tried and tested answers:
Ten Tips and Tricks for the Online Student
During the first course, I had printed every article, Email, group project, student-to-facilitator communication, lecture, and assignment. I struggled to work within a synchronous and asynchronous environment, while juggling my teammate's schedules, multiple assignments, and my day-to-day job. Finally, after the first course, I realized I had to make some changes. Otherwise, I would never make it through the full 20 months of the program. Through that initial baptism by fire, I quickly developed a set of tips that my fellow classmates and I found useful.
Techlearning > > Ten Tips and Tricks for the Online Student > June 1, 2004
Techniques To Help E-Learning
e-Learning is doubling yearly. Classes, e-courses, e-books on how-to and what-to appear by the thousands online weekly. In- person seminars and workshops are limited to location and access. e-Learning allows easy access, creation, and international distribution to a whole new world of experiences -- negative and positive.
Preparing E-Learners for Online Success
These advances in e-learning technology have, however, created new demands on both learners and instructors. The time-tested learning strategies and study skills that most of us developed through 12 or more years of a traditional classroom education can only assist us to a limited degree when courses are moved to e-learning formats. In response, instructors, instructional designers, and curriculum developers have been building an inventory of contemporary skills and techniques for generating useful learning experiences for today’s high-tech learners. At the same time, learners have been informally developing updated study skills and learning strategies in a relatively ad hoc manner.
Preparing E-Learners for Online Success
Promoting Synchronous Interaction
Cyber-instructors continually seek instructional tools that will hold students’ attention, and make online communications more efficient and effective.
Promoting Synchronous Interaction in an eLearning Environment
How Scalable is Your Online Course?
Online course scalability—the degree to which an online course can be designed to accommodate larger or more sections of online courses without sacrificing quality—depends on how expert-dependent the course is, its delivery methods, and the amount of resources available to support the unbundling of the instructor’s roles.
Copyright arguments
Recently I was reading "Copyright Law", a speech to the House of Commons on 5 February 1841 by Thomas Babington Macaulay. The amazing thing to me is how little the arguments have changed in the intervening time.
Copyright arguments: more than a century later they haven't actually changed | connect.educause.edu
Xenu's Link Sleuth
Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links. Link verification is done on "normal" links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets. It displays a continously updated list of URLs which you can sort by different criteria. A report can be produced at any time.
Find broken links on your site with Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM)
Linklint
Linklint is an Open Source Perl program that checks links on web sites.
Linklint - fast html link checker
Instructables
Instructables is a venue for showing what you make and how others can make it.
Making things is part of being human. Whether you make bikes, kites, food, clothing, protocols for biology research, or hack consumer electronics, good instructions are critical.
Instructables is a step-by-step collaboration system that helps you record and share your projects with a mixture of images, text, ingredient lists, CAD files, and more. We hope to make documentation simple and fast. Show your colleagues how to operate a machine, show your friends how to build a kayak, show the world how to make cool stuff.
J-Learning
The site is designed to help individuals, civic groups and school groups jumpstart their own community media projects. Here, you'll find extensive, detailed training in Web site creation, HTML, page design and use of photos, audio, video, animation, surveys and databases.
J-Learning: your how-to site for community journalism
September 9, 2005
Media/Political Bias
There is no such thing as an objective point of view.
No matter how much we may try to ignore it, human communication always takes place in a context, through a medium, and among individuals and groups who are situated historically, politically, economically, and socially. This state of affairs is neither bad nor good. It simply is. Bias is a small word that identifies the collective influences of the entire context of a message.
Court docs: Ballmer vowed to 'kill' Google
Dude must of had a bad week...
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Google in an expletive-laced, chair-throwing tirade when a senior engineer told him he was leaving the company to go work for Google, the engineer claimed in court documents made public on Friday.
Court docs: Ballmer vowed to 'kill' Google | CNET News.com
Experts offer homework help online
As students get back into the routine of another school year, many will be taking advantage of the scores of experts from academia, government, and elsewhere who offer free online advice to those needing homework help--as long as the inquiring young minds are motivated by curiosity and aren't merely lazy
September 7, 2005
Help2Go- Computer Problem Solvers
As an online developer you often come across software or hardware issues that you need help with. Sometimes there isn't anyone around to help. This is a neat page dedicated to these type of "little" problems.
http://www.help2go.com/
September 6, 2005
How to start a blog
Once upon a time.. Okay that might be the way to start a fairy tale but not necessarily how to start a blog but then again... If you really want to make a punch in the blogosphere start your blog with something that tells people who you are. I don't mean that you need to tell us how tall you are and the like but write in such as way that we get to see a piece of you. That is what captures a reader.
How to develop an online course?
In my own research on this topic, I have interviewed a series of teachers, developers and administrators from a state-wide virtual high school. My initial findings have narrowed down the guidelines, or as Williams would put it, how to design an online course to seven items.
Virtual High School Meanderings: How to Develop an Online Course?
Labels That Don't Make Sense
Labels can be extraordinarily confusing, especially if they lack a certain precision or congruence with reality. Take the name Labor Day for example. This is a label for a holiday in the United States, a day that families have typically reserved as a time for relaxation and fun gatherings.
And w hen it comes to Labor Day, most people seem to get the fact that its denomination as a holiday trumps any implications that might be associated with its actual label. In other words, no one is really confused by the word "Labor" in the title. It's a day of relaxation, right?
Spreading the Poison of Bigotry
They locked down the entrance doors Thursday at the Baton Rouge hotel where I'm staying alongside hundreds of New Orleans residents driven from their homes by Hurricane Katrina.
"Because of the riots," the hotel managers explained. Armed Gunmen from New Orleans were headed this way, they had heard.
"It's the blacks," whispered one white woman in the elevator. "We always worried this would happen."
Chicago Tribune | Spreading the poison of bigotry
Riding the E-Learning Curve
A word to the wise for those responsible for certification programs: Give the people what they want. Increasingly, that means adding an online training component.
When it comes to styles of instruction, the CRN Training and Certification Survey showed 30 percent of solution providers prefer the self-paced online training option, which was more than for any other type of training. Another 20 percent gave a nod to a hybrid method: an off-site, instructor-led classroom that includes an online component.
CRN | Training & Certification Survey | Riding The E-Learning Curve
Blogs help students think for themselves.
Blogging is helping students to think and write more critically, says an Australian researcher, and can help draw out people who would otherwise not engage in debate.
News in Science - Blogs help students think for themselves - 02/09/2005
The myths of open source
The myths are: the attraction is the price tag; the savings aren't real; there's no support; it's a legal minefield; open source isn't for mission-critical applications; and open source isn't ready for the desktop.
The myths of open source | connect.educause.edu
Katrina's Impact on Education
The current atmosphere among education blogs is understandably different from the usual bantering. I have chosen a sampling of topics from several of my favorite ed-blogs as a screen shot comparison from the rest of the blogosphere:
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: What's next? What do we do? Katrina's impact on education
September 2, 2005
Top 10 Tips for Classroom Discipline
I think it cool that all ten of these apply to the online environment as well.
Classroom discipline and management causes the most fear and consternation in new teachers. However, classroom management is a skill that is not only learned but practiced daily. Here are ten tips that can lead to successful classroom management and discipline. These tips can help you cut down on discipline problems and leave you with fewer interruptions and disruptions.
Top Tips for Successful Classroom Discipline and Management
And expect me not to pray?
There is no better thought to start a school year.
21st CENTURY TEACHER APPLICANT
Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning. Not only that, I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, behaviorally modify disruptive behavior, observe for signs of abuse and T-shirt messages.
I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for guns and raise their self-esteem. I'm to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, how and where to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook and how to apply for a job.
I am to check their heads occasionally for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of potential antisocial behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others, and, oh yeah, always make sure that I give the girls in my class 50 percent of my attention.
I'm required by my contract to be working on my own time summer and evenings at my own expense toward advance certification and a master's degree; and after school, I am to attend committee and faculty meetings and participate in staff development training to maintain my employment status.
I am to be a paragon of virtue larger than life, such that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of authority. I am to pledge allegiance to supporting family values, a return to the basics, and to my current administration. I am to incorporate technology into the learning, and monitor all Web sites while providing a personal relationship with each student. I am to decide who might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit crimes in school or who is possibly being abused, and I can be sent to jail for not mentioning these suspicions.
I am to make sure all students pass the province and federally mandated testing and all classes, whether or not they attend school on a regular basis or complete any of the work assigned. Plus, I am expected to make sure that all of the students with handicaps are guaranteed a free and equal education, regardless of their mental or physical handicap.
I am to communicate frequently with each student's parent by letter, phone, newsletter and grade card. I'm to do all of this with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a 45 minute more-or-less plan time and a big smile, all on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps in many provinces. Is that all?
And you want me to do all of this and expect me NOT TO PRAY?
Citizen X
What does it mean to be a citizen? This website helps to explain exactly what that means for you!
Watch the animations, do the activities...plus the chance to talk to others on our messageboard.
BBC - Schools - Citizen X - Homepage
Open Source Web Design
Open Source Web Design is a community of designers and site owners sharing free web design templates as well as web design information. Helping to make the internet a prettier place!
Computer Tutor
Computer Tutor is a resource for people who don't know how to use a keyboard, mouse or computer screen.
If you're a friend, family member or tutor helping someone learn, all you need to do is choose your connection speed and start the resource. That's it!
BBC - WebWise - Computer Tutor
September 1, 2005
What makes a strong post
Today the main task was to set up blogs, but we had enough time to open a conversation about content and the question of what makes a good blog post. I asked students to read three prominent bloggers in three different fields for about 10 minutes, then jot some notes about their first impression of what makes a good blog entry.
Blogs / Weblogs in Higher Education
Using audio files in courses
Another area has to do with "learning style" preferences. I prefer to read text rather than to listen to text, but I can do either. Some people prefer to listen, and some have a lot of trouble reading, but listening isn't a problem for them. Is this a reason to provide alternatives?
Using audio files in courses | connect.educause.edu
Using Activity Theory to Design Constructivist Online Learning Environments
This paper examined a particular online learning activity, embedded within a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment incorporated as part of the larger context of participation in a unique national agricultural leadership development program. Process outcomes such as a high level of collaboration and active peer facilitation as well as demonstration by participants of a variety of holistic thinking skills were observed via a transcript analysis of online interactions. This led to speculations that the particular design features embedded within the context of the online collaborative issues analysis project (IAP), were thought to clearly reflect a constructivist approach. Methods to confirm this included evaluating the learning activity in light of nine characteristics of an authentic task in CSCL environments, and using activity theory as a conceptual framework with which to further examine the extent to which the IAP reflected the values and principles of a constructivist online learning environment.
Windows to the Universe
Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system covering the Earth and Space sciences for use by the general public. Windows to the Universe has been in development since 1995. Our goal is to build an internet site that includes a rich array of documents, including images, movies, animations, and data sets, that explore the Earth and Space sciences and the historical and cultural ties between science, exploration, and the human experience. Our site is appropriate for use in libraries, museums, schools, homes, and the workplace. Students and teachers may find the site especially helpful in their studying (and teaching!) Earth and Space sciences. Because we have users of all ages, the site is written in three reading levels approximating elementary, middle school and high school reading levels. These levels may be chosen by using the upper button bar of each page of the main site.
Why this is going to take longer
David’s post from a couple of days ago got me back into that “think of what this could look like” mode and started me speculating just what it was going to take to make it happen. There are days when I get into the flow of these technologies and think the sheer amazingness of what they can do should be enough to at least make educators want to sip the Kool-Aid. And when David laid out the ways that he could see teachers changing their routines with RSS and blogs and the like, I was mostly nodding my head in agreement. Mostly.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
