Create PowerPoint presentations in MashUp style

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Presentations, presentations, presentations... How many presentations you have to prepare this year? And the next? All of them have to be different and engrossing. What about for presentations with live streams and with mashup services from several Web 2.0 sites?
SAP (based on BusinessObjects Xcelsius dashboarding technology) proposes PowerPoint templates with embedded widgets giving a real-time Twitter ticker feed, a Twitter feedback slide, and Twitter voting tool.

Yesterday I tested these tools using SAP PowerPoint templates and also I integrated the code in the Edu20 LMS. The effect of the synchronous communication, feedback and reaction is incredible!
To see how PowerPoint Twitter Feedback works, just enter a search term in the lower-left hand corner.









Another nice solution is given by authorSTREAM Desktop for images (from Bing) and video (from YouTube) searching and integration in PowerPoint slides. The team is developed a plugin for PowerPoint 2007 which you can download from the authorSTREAM site.



The benefit of combining formal and informal learning flows

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Questions like: (1) How should the advantages of LMS 2.0 for learning enhancement be used in the most effective way? (2) How could LMS 2.0 social capabilities be integrated into a learning process? (3) How could students’ learning experience be improved combining formal and informal learning flows? (4) How could student-generated artifacts be incorporated in a formal learning program? were in the center of the paper that I presented at the SPeL 09 workshop. I showed the results from the exploratory study that examines the experiences bachelor degree students gained from learning with a next generation learning management system Edu 2.0. I divided the learning area in four sections: (1) personal learning space, (2) course learning place, (3) public available resource repository and (4) formed community and examined the formal and informal learning occuring in each learning section. The summarized results show that students spent most of their time in Edu 2.0 in the personal learning space and slightly less in the course learning section, and also informal learning flows appear in all four parts of the Learning area.

Thanks to the organisers for this nice meeing at this beautiful place, thanks to the collegues for the interesting presentations, discussions and suggestions.

How can augmented reality support learning?

Saturday, August 15, 2009

The definition of augmented learning according to Wikipedia is:
" Augmented learning is a learning technique where the environment adapts to the learner. Instead of focusing on memorization, supplemental information is presented to the learner based on the current context. The augmented content can be dynamically tailored to the learner's natural environment by displaying text, images, video or even playing audio (music or speech).
Most implementations of augmented learning are forms of e-Learning. In desktop computing environments, the learner receives supplemental, contextual information through an on-screen, popup window, toolbar or sidebar. As the user navigates a website, email or document, the learner associates the supplemental information with the key text selected by a mouse or other input device.

The explored research materials in this area show that augmented reality can enhance learning: to encourage situated learning, collaborative learning, learning by experiments, learning at the work place:

Supporting Collaboration Ubiquitously: An augmented learning environment for architecture students

Augmented Learning Environment using Mixed Reality Technology

Learning With Augmented Reality

Learning through digitally-augmented physical experiences: Reflections on the Ambient Wood project

Virtual Reality for Augmented Collaboration and Accelerated Learning among Process Plant Workers






Augmented Reality in Mathematics

WizzKit from Mathijs Beks on Vimeo.

Expand your Personal Learning Network with the #FollowFriday initiative on Twitter

Friday, August 14, 2009

It is the end of Friday and the end of the work week. You of course relax in front of the computer and read the messages of your Twitter friends using a life stream program (or you like to change them?). Some of the twitts attract your attention, no, no grab your attention beacuse they are closer to your thoughts, feelings, personal and professional interests at this moment. You start reading, communicating, retweeting, bookmarking and also finding people with congenial minds and kindred spirit to follow! How is the adrenaline? Is it rush? Yessss, of course you range over a large number of digital resources that to this moment ecape from your notice. So, the #FollowFriday initiative can support you to open your mind and to examine the subjects from a different point of view. How was #FollowFriday started? The full story via @jmuncy you ca read here.
I propose a few worthy professionals from my PLN with their wonderful 140 character messages for#FollowFriday. Hope that they can touch and add value to your world! Enjoy!

@cami13 - Carmen Holotescu, Timisoara, Romania
*********************************************
Reading white paper "Video Use and Higher Education: Options for the Future" http://url.ie/27uh, via The Wired Campus http://url.ie/27uf.
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Listening to David Wiley - @opencontent - and Stephen @Downes dialogue across the spectrum of open education - http://url.ie/27qx.
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PLN’s Redefined http://url.ie/272k: when twitter becomes a Personal Living Network; an emotional story by @kellyhines.
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@cedpaine - Ced Paine, Newton, MA, USA
*************************************

RT @paulawhite: RT @mayfieldc: good one, a searchable, sortable, add-able database of tech tools for the classroom: http://bit.ly/BGOgL
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Another great exmpl of Google Custom Search! RT @tonnet: RT @lbott: Trying All Teacher Websites, Google for teachers http://bit.ly/1GgUHY
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Nice collection of links RT @DiigoRSS: Twitter for Teachers http://bit.ly/5oIxb
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@c4lpt - Jane Hart, Wincanton, England
***********************************
#ff Don't forget the Connexions Directory with over 1200 learning professionals to follow http://bit.ly/4J55u
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5 places to learn how to touch type - for free http://bit.ly/sc9gB
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12 best places to get free images for your site http://bit.ly/jxevB
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@CompetencyMgmt - CompetencyMgmt, USA
*****************************************
RT: @HRToolsWriter Leadership Core Competencies Are the Foundation of Leadership Skills: http://tinyurl.com/lygzg5
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News Release: Avilar Releases Newest Version of Competency Management System, WebMentor Skills v.6.5.pdf: http://digg.com/d310lNs?t
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Learn Competency Management Basics at live workshop in Columbia, MD next Tuesday, 8/18! http://bit.ly/R9KN
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@elearning - David Anderson, Phoenix, AZ, USA
******************
*************************
Foundations of Interactive Storytelling http://is.gd/2gK8z
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All set for my #elearningguild session on learning tools and resources in Second Life http://is.gd/2gxb2 Enjoyed yesterday's sessions!
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Great collection of interactive tools, books and maps for elearning and instructional designers http://is.gd/2fJUC
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@elemenous - Lucy Gray, Chicago, USA
***********************************
RT @Google Learn how to talk about search in the classroom with free lessons put together by Google Certified Teachers http://bit.ly/WPRXi
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Planting my wisdom tree at www.iwise.com/elemenous #quote #iwise
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Reading: "Still no free lunch 2.0 « Generation YES Blog" (http://twitthis.com/te5qpc)
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@FelipeMorales - Felipe Morales, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
*************************************************************
Screen Capture Tools: 40+ Free Tools and Techniques http://bit.ly/INDPp
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Yudu Library http://www.yudu.com/
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20 Free Web Apps to Use in the Classroom http://bit.ly/md2ym
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@ggrosseck - Gabriela Grosseck, Timisoara, Romania
***********************************************
via @mashable I am a MachtMaker twitter user, http://yahoo.knowyourmojo.com/ - nice game for advertising the new Yahoo home page
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Feudal Knowledge in Academic Publishing - so true , http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cg...
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Absolutely in love with this song ... Such a pitty I couldn't blip it , http://lyricwiki.org/Rod_St...http://blip.fm/~bn9bc
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@hjarche - Harold Jarche, Sackville, NB, Canada
******************************************
World Cafe Online Community: http://www.theworldcafecommunity.org/
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My thoughts on power relationships in learning for @LearnNuggets http://is.gd/2gKEf http://is.gd/2gKHt http://is.gd/2gKKz #lrnchat
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f "formal learning for basic skills" was true then none of us would have learned how to speak #lrnchat
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@gsiemens - George Siemens, Manitoba, Canada

*******************************************
RT @jonmott: "Open for Learning: Bridging the CMS-PLE Gap" slides posted at http://bit.ly/EanJQ. Downloadable #opended09
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Reading @psychemedia remote analysis of twitter during #opened09 http://bit.ly/NHZ3T
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Recordings (July and August) from Social Media sessions with @davecormier http://bit.ly/T5wjn
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@hopkinsdavid - David Hopkins, Bournemouth, UK
*********************************************
BBC "Sony to support open ebook format" http://bit.ly/7rSbV #eBook
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eLearning On The Rise - http://tinyurl.com/njy6rh (via @kimworthy)
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Blogged: What is a Learning Technologist? http://bit.ly/Oam1H
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@Ignatia - Inge de Waard, Belgium
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(myBlog) Is your global eLearning2.0 content censored? You better take a look: With the recent Iran elec.. http://bit.ly/gfhmE
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(myBlog) visualizations galore for Academic, Personal and Business Intelligence: In this increasingly da.. http://tinyurl.com/mhdrhm
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RT @blacklooks @whiteafrican @johnkidenda: Kenya sitting on talent that's going to waste: Shunned genius wooed abroad http://bit.ly/YiSYq
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@jalam1001 - Javed Alam, Youngstown, Ohio, USA
*********************************************

Education and growth: Quality, not quantity http://bit.ly/1LRLj7
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How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education | Fast Company http://bit.ly/12uPdJ
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30 Flash-Based Photography Sites http://bit.ly/aLUMJ
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@jclarey - Janet Clarey, New York, USA
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Lessons from Edupunks http://bit.ly/XuGPi Are/would you send your kids to a traditional college campus? Same as author...a real hypocrite
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American pedagogy invariably emphasizes simultaneous instruction "frontal teaching" @gwoodill talking about J Goodland's book about school.
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"One of my favorite tricks..using overhead projectors to light video interviews" & other creative ideas from @tomkulmann http://bit.ly/boRnI
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@JoanVinallCox - Joan Vinall-Cox, Oakville, near Toronto, Canada
**********************************************************
3 mistakes the media has rushd to make - this week - http://tinyurl.com/otmo6q
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RT @JaneBozarth: RT @Jeffhurt: I like to call social media my tool for engineering randomness & accelerating serendipity #lrnchat
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Social learning is the dance of learning w/ others, informal is where you get no certificate.#lrnchat
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@julianna07 - Mona, Timisoara, Romania
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RT @storytellin: Teach Digital: http://tr.im/vFFb - very useful and comprehensive curriculum by Wes Fryer
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100 Best Blogs For Teachers of the Future http://icio.us/1dvief
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Tips for teachers to help sts be safe on the net http://bit.ly/1dnYYL
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@klamma - Ralf Klamma, Aachen, Germany
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edtechpost - PLE Diagrams http://ff.im/5Zf8D
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ACM MMSJ Special Issue on Multimedia Intelligent Services and Technologies http://twurl.nl/up00mk
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ECS - Semantic Technologies could link up UK learning http://ff.im/5Vanj
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@marciamarcia - Marcia Conner, Virginia, USA
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One of our key goals 4 social learning outcomes is get learners to "engage, interact & introspect" become social RT @spotlearning #lrnchat
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Is #lrnchat formal or informal? I'd say formal-unexpected: http://sn.im/inforr #lrnchat
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Is technology changing childhood? Yes. A national poll http://sn.im/on-teens and social networking via @mfhiatt
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@mebner - Martin Ebner, Graz, Austria
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http://twitpic.com/du7so - great the new welcome presents for our newbies arrived #welcomedays #tugraz #usb
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nice video about "Augmented Reality and the Future of Education" http://bit.ly/Widue #education #future #augmentedReality
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recommend RT @heinz: @mebner you can have fb notifications via growl without a toolbar and without opening a browser: http://bit.ly/QG6CC
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@michael_hanley - Michael Hanley, Dublin, Ireland
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Gartner's Hype Cycle Special Report for 2009 has been published - Essential reading in my view - click the URL for more - http://url.ie/27jp
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The E-Learning Curve Blog - Podcasting for E-Learning: Introduction to Audio Production - Find out more here - http://url.ie/27dy
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Perseids meteor shower occurs tonight (Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) - find out more http://url.ie/27dn - fingers crossed for clear skies
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@NikPeachey - NikPeachey, Morocco
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Great way to monitor kids' or students ' computer use without blocking http://www.visikid.com/ #esafety #elearning
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Want to add a chat widget to your website? http://www.talkinator.com/
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The Future of New Media: Anil Dash on BigThink. makes good sense. Hope he's right http://bit.ly/M07Im
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@pascal_venier - Pascal Venier, Manchester, UK
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@manchesterstory is a project to crowdsource Manchester's history http://www.themanchestersto..
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RT @malburns: "Vitual worlds and Second Life: Closing my open tabs" http://bit.ly/uS8Wk
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I shall have a good look at http://www.pivote.info/
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@pgsimoes - Paulo Simões, Portugal
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Schools add cell phones to curriculum ... slowly - http://tinyurl.com/njq3e8
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How the brain hard-wires us to love Google, Twitter, and texting. And why that's dangerous. http://bit.ly/2McsKB
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Schools Need Teachers Like Me. I Just Can't Stay. - http://bit.ly/xwjmH
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@rashford - Robin Ashford/Mochi, Portland, Oregon, USA
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The Next Big Thing in Mobile: 5 Trends We're Watching http://tinyurl.com/m8qyr9
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Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) meeting in Second Life starting now-join us on ALA Island http://tinyurl.com/ldcjza #ACRL
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"Tagging the world on a phone" http://tinyurl.com/lcv2n4 (Augmented Reality on handhelds like this-amazing, such potential-soon!)
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@rashkath - Rash Kath, India
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Geometry tool box http://www.mrreddy.com/geometrytoolbox.swf
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A nice collection of MCQ's in Math http://bit.ly/N4dTu
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Reading about Jigsaw classroom http://www.jigsaw.org/steps.htm
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@russeltarr - Russel Tarr, Toulouse, France
***************************************
RT @quote_daily: To me, education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil's soul - Muriel Spark
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100 educational iPhone apps for self-learners http://tinyurl.com/nmcwnc
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A Europe of Tales: Animated folk stories: http://tinyurl.com/q7tqlf
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@sciencebase - David Bradley, UK
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Try again - nerdy chemistry game - http://bit.ly/yESah
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Google changing underlying search structure, adding caffeine to its sandbox for a kick - http://bit.ly/google-caffeine
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Educational Video Streaming - http://sciencetext.com/Jo
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@skipz - Skip Zalneraitis, Brattleboro VT USA
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Education 'Miracles' Don't Survive Scrutiny- http://snipurl.com/pvc99 [www_truthdig_com]
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Karooba - Education-based games - http://www.karooba.com/
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How to use an iPhone as a photography tool- http://snipurl.com/pokvs [digital-photography-school_com]
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@stylianosm2 - Stylianos Mystakidis, Patras, Greece
**********************************************
"As people embrace social media in their private lives, they naturally expect to use similar tools within the enterprise" J.Nielsen #e2
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Great teaching aid: A Visual Guide to Twitter http://bit.ly/3gpqQ -via @RobinGood @MetaJp
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E-Learning & training trends report highlights Social, Game-based & Mobile Learning http://ub0.cc/7b/0v (free pdf german)
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@timbuckteeth - Steve Wheeler, Plymouth, UK
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Personal webs and the future of the institutional VLE http://bit.ly/SA29a
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Using mashups for PLEs: Future Internet Vol 1 http://bit.ly/39WYBl
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RT @rodericksilva: Connectivism and Connective Knowledge - 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/kpcybx)
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@zaidlearn - Zaid Ali Alsagoff, Malaysia
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Folksemantic: Browse and search over 110,000 Open Education Resources (OERs). "This is an open educational r.. http://folksemantic.com/
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2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint: This article explores two (2) juicy ways to insert your f.. http://bit.ly/CIEbv
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Psychology in the 21st century ( OpenLearn - UK): The key message of this unit is that different psychologists f.. http://bit.ly/fWgge
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Is Social Media a challenge for Higher Education?

Friday, July 24, 2009


It is a fact that neither Web 2.0 technologies do not pass over the Higher education nor does the Higher education jump over the Web 2.0 technologies, because of the new type of learners, the present types of internet media and their everyday relationships. The usage of these technologies in learning processes is not a fad, it is just a normal reflection of the evolutionary development of internet. Our students like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, ect. and spend much time in these virtual places. The informal learning based on Web 2.0 exists and functions like a "university in shadow" with possibilities of a borderless digital learning environment. So, why don't the educators present the power of social media for learning and better strategies for its utilization?
At this moment my observations point that emergent technologies are not popular enough and their adoption in the engineering education needs further understanding. Also, when the collegues have been introduced with the advantages and benefits of social media for teaching and learning, their reaction was positive and optimistic.
With this post I would like to show several opinions about the entwinement between Web 2.0 and Higher education via the folloing research reports:

Web 2.0 and Higher Education: Pedagogical Implications

"The use of Web 2.0 technologies in the context of Higher Education could lead to the implementation of a model of learning centred on the concept of Community of Practice, in which learners are seen as participants of a framework that has social structure, rather than being passive elements that acquire models of a static world.
"What remains the core challenge of the adoption of Web 2.0 in Higher Education is the balance that must be made between the necessary conservative part of Education, which is necessary to preserve past human effort and talent, as also traditional skills and knowledge legacy, and the possibilities that technology introduces in terms of students’ self expression and co-construction of knowledge.

The Changing Landscape and the New Academy

"Conceptualization of the learning environment is transitioning from learning in a physical space—that is, the classroom—to a student-centered learning
environment situated in cyberspace. Deeper learning is the goal of such active, learner-centered practice, involving the interplay of technology and pedagogy.
"The New Academy is emerging. Those who know and understand the topology of the new teaching and learning landscape will feel comfortable navigating through it.

The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age

"Our argument here is that our institutions of learning have changed far more slowly than the modes of inventive, collaborative, participatory learning offered by the Internet and an array of contemporary mobile technologies. Part of the reason for the relatively slow change is that many of our traditional institutions have been tremendously successful, if measured in terms of endurance and stability.
"When we advocate institutional change for learning institutions, we are making assumptions about the deep structure of learning, about cognition, about the way youth today learn (about) their world in informal settings, and about a mismatch
between the excitement generated by informal learning and the routinization of learning so common to many of our institutions of formal education.

The future of higher education: How technology will shape learning

"According to the survey results, online-collaboration tools, software that supports individually paced learning, and learning-management systems are among the communications technologies most expected to improve academics over the next five years. Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, instant messaging and social networking which have been influential in improving connectivity in many settings and are in use now at a large number of institutions are expected to decline in use over that period. By contrast, online gaming and simulation software are cited by 54% of higher education respondents and 59% of corporate respondents as an innovation likely to be adopted among universities over the next five years.
"Understanding challenges in rewiring education ... Although university participants view technology as having a largely positive impact on their campuses, they acknowledge several challenges. The biggest of these may well be cost, a factor that close to 70% of university respondents cite as their greatest concern. Entrenched organisational cultures may be another hurdle, as academic faculty members accustomed to traditional modes of instruction may be disinclined to change. In fact, more than one-third of those polled say that tenure and promotional requirements will need to be re-weighted to include technology-based teaching criteria.

Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World

"Higher education has a key role in helping students refine, extend and articulate the diverse range of skills they have developed through their experience of Web 2.0 technologies. It not only can, but should, fulfil this role, and it should do so through a partnership with students to develop approaches to learning and teaching. This does not necessarily mean wholesale incorporation of ICT into teaching and learning. Rather it means adapting to and capitalising on evolving and intensifying behaviours that are being shaped by the experience of the newest technologies. In practice it means building on and steering the positive aspects of those behaviours such as experimentation, collaboration and teamwork, while addressing the negatives such as a casual and insufficiently critical attitude to information. The means to these ends should be the best tools for the job, whatever they may be. The role of institutions of higher education is to enable informed choice in the matter of those tools, and to support them and their effective deployment.

How to Use Social Software in Higher Education

"Embracing e-Learning in Higher education requires a shift in the paradigm of pedagogy, as well as the use of mediating technologies. On one hand, there is a
discussion going on about the dichotomy between closed institutionalized learning tools and open social software. On the other hand, we can talk about the pedagogical tension between the urge for individual independence and personalization, which leads educators to consider the new possibilities provided by the Two-Way Web as individualized learning tools. At the same time there is the need for the learning management systems connecting those individualized tools and supporting the learners to contribute to the learning communities. With this in mind, it is clear that innovation (as an idea) does not consist in just a technology but it is very likely that it is inside it.

A review of current and developing international practice in the use of social networking (Web 2.0) in higher education

"The future of universities Web 2.0 by itself is unlikely to have a significant effect on Higher education over the next ten years, but it will almost certainly accelerate some of the trends that we are already seeing:
- Universities will lose their privileged role as a primary producer of knowledge and
gatekeeper to it, as knowledge becomes more widely accessible through other sources, and is produced by more people in more ways.
- The funding sources of existing universities will become increasingly threatened as other providers start to offer degree courses. In the UK we are seeing further education colleges offering higher education provision, and in the United States there are many private universities (including for profit universities, and university divisions of large corporations).
- Distance learning will increase as the technology reduces (not eliminates) the differences between campus based learning and distance learning.
- Work-based learning will increase with courses being more closely embedded into the work-place as work can more easily be shared between colleagues at work and on courses. Note that this will raise concerns over confidential information that universities, employers and students will all need to consider.
- Collaborative work across courses and across institutions will increase, both planned as part of the courses themselves, and informally as students get to know each other
through their social spaces.

Free Hosted eLearning 2.0 Platforms in Action

Thursday, May 7, 2009

In this post I am presenting several free hosted platforms suitable for teaching and/or learning management. Also, I wish to show the situation in 2009 in point of view Web 2.0 technologies integration in eLearning platforms and as a continuous review of Zaid Ali Alsagoff's blog post "Any Free Hosted CMS or LMS?" from February 2008.
In the explored eLearning platforms functional features that they propose varied. I will mention the basic functional requirement for one learning environment: course design, content development and access, enrollment and tracking, knowledge and skill assessment, communication. Groups with special interests, communities forming and network organizing are typical characteristics for 2.0 mode. Some of the recent eLearning platforms offer a full cycle of authoring-management-delivery. Most of them are mashable and flexible through tools for media content creation and delivery in the form of wiki, blog, microblog, A/V/images/widgets code embedding, RSS subscription.
Last semester I used Edu 2.0 and it really supports my teaching and students' formal and informal learning. Edu 2.0 is not designed specially for Higher Education, but rather for Schools. The environment integrates tools for lessons structuring (sequentially or hierarchical), rich media integration, student participation in: PLE building, Portfolio forming, resource sharing in the community library, collaboration and communication. Also, I motivated them to use start pages for PLE extending and Ning for widening of their learning Portfolio, Glogser, SlideShare, Vimeo and other Web 2.0 tools to enhance their learning process. In Edu 2.0 the schools and colleges can be reached after registration. New features are constantly being added to the system. The latest one is a perfect solution which was missing then - a public school portal (in my case the address is: http://tu-kee.edu20.org/site).

It would be good if information about the ideology of eLearning platform development could be proposed on their sites to orient educators about the possible pedagogic strategies realization.

I hope that this information will be useful for educators and I recommend them to try at least one of the following eLearning platforms:

CollegeBrain is a Course Management System and it enables course instructors to consolidate, view, and manage content and students.



EctoLearning is a social, collaborative, online learning environment and Learning Management System with attendance tracking, grade book, and an assessment engine including the use of rubrics based evaluations.


Edu2.0 is a learning management system with community features and a public library. The classes are available after registration in the system and after class enrollment. Several class examples are provided below:

1. Internet Technologies and Web Design
2. Course of Computer Aided Graphics
3. eLearning 2.0 & Beyond


Eduslide (Tutorom): Tutorom allows educators to create online educational content and deliver it, to form community and network. If you would like to use this software on your own network (based on php and MySQL), it is also available free as open source, from eduslide.org.


Lessons:
1. Adobe Photoshop CS2: Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop from a web designer and graphic designers point of view (39 lessons)
2. Algebra I: This course will make math come alive with its many intriguing examples of algebra in the world around you (4 lessons)
3. Adobe Photoshop Basics: Free Online Tutorial for Beginners (1 lesson)


GlobalClassroom is an eLearning platform for course content and students management, custom branding and collaboration.


Free courses access after system registration and course enrollment:
1. Utilizing WordPress to Blog and Podcast
2. Moodle Tutorial - How to Build Courses with Moodle


The KEEP Toolkit is a set of web-based tools for selecting and organizing teaching and learning materials, prompting analysis and reflection by using templates, transforming materials and reflections into visually appealing and engaging representations, sharing ideas for peer-review, assessment, and collective knowledge building, facilitating knowledge exchange and dissemination.
KEEP Toolkit is implemented in Apache, PHP, and MySQL and it is available as open source.
Collections of resources for K-12 teachers and teacher educators you can find on the site Inside Teaching. The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education proposes a collection that includes hand-built faculty teaching portfolios and scholarship of teaching and learning projects that were created over a period of eight years.


LearnHub is a social learning network of communities and experts. It is a pool of resources and knowledge representing different subjects and subcategories.
I selected only several learning communities from the treasure of the LearnHub:
1. Cooperative Learning (115 lessons)
2. Blended Learning and Instruction (55 lessons)
3. Geography (36 lessons)
4. Mathematics (149 lessons)
5. Journalism (63 lessons)


LectureShare is an online platform for course materials sharing. The instructor's tools include course and student management center, grade book, announcement posts. The search engine can help you to find the right courses.
Here are several public available courses (after system registration and course enrollment):
1. Advanced CRT: The focus of this course is on CPT surgery coding and CPT and HCPCS modifier usage
2. Mathematics: This course covers topics on quadratic equations, exponents and radicals, exponential and logarithmic functions, higher degree equations (cubics), trigonometric functions, sequences and series
3. Intro to Computers:


Lecturio is a course based system that allows educatots to offer their students study multimedia content cost effectively and, above all, centrally accessible. The system is in German, but there are courses in English that are available without registraion:




Multiply is an online environment for resource sharing, group, school, university content management and networking. Most of the sites of the system can be seen by users after registration.



1. Mapúa Institute of Technology
2. Cebu Doctors' University


MyiCourse is a learning management system. You may find free courses by using the search engine or by going directly to http://learningcenter.myicourse.com and looking at the course catalog.



NfoMedia is a learning management system, specially designed for Higher Education. The courses can be opened and closed and they can be reached after system registration. The search engine supports finding a course.


1. English 1C course of University of California
2. Computer Literacy course of Bolton High School


Pyuple is a course management system with features for networking and communication. Here you can search for courses.



RedGrove is a content based system for knowledge sharing of teachers, professionals and learners. A wide range of topics can be discussed in RedGrove network.




Sclipo is a social platform for teaching and learning with possibilities for course creation, live sessions, storage in a vast library.




TalkBean is an eLearning solution for knowledge and experience sharing via virtual communication rooms. You have to download and install TalkBean Live software to perform your lessons.


WizIQ is a free online teaching and eLearning platform with a web conferencing possibility. The sessions are recorded if you can not participate or if you wish to repeat some lessons. Great classes by Nellie Deutsch you can find here.



Yacapaca is the leading free online assessment platform. It helps teachers assess students through multiple choice, short-text tests, eportfolios and other popular methods. It includes automarking and analysis tools, and has a complete suite of authoring tools. A thriving community of authors collaborates to create and perfect new assessment materials that are then available for all to use.


If you have teaching/learning experience with the environments mentioned above or with another, please share your opinion, cons and pros about the effectiveness of the provided learning process!

From Personal Learning Environment Building to Professional Learning Network Forming

Friday, April 10, 2009

This was the title of the paper that I presented at the eLSE 2009 conference, Bucharest, Romania.
I shared and anylised my and my students experience gained in participating in social, professional and learning networks based on web 2.0 technologies. These networks contribute to the processes by which learners,educators and experts meet and communicate, pool, share, learn about and reuse their resources, knowledge and competencies.
A model for PLE (Personal Learning Environment) building is proposed that is created on the basis of observation and analysis of students’ participation in the course Internet Technologies.
The formed learning network based on EDU 2.0 LMS, NING and start pages is described. The modified Rogers’ model for competence development lifecycle in a learning network is used in order to be examined the main phases in competence progress of each student.
PLE building is found to be a core for PLN (Personal Learning Network) and PfLN (Professional Learning Network) deployment. Also, the transition from PLE to PfLN is an important step that supports students to become self-organized and life-long learners.