13 Enlightening Case Studies of Social Media in the Classroom #in (via @Socialearning)

Earlier I posted an article from Slate about why Social Networking sites should not be blocked from students. Here are some examples of social media being implemented in the classroom. As the influence of social media spreads hopefully cases like this will become the norm and not the exception. http://url4.eu/10BiZ
[Categories Social Media in Education]

Slate: Why schools should stop blocking social network sites. #in

Many teachers face a fair amount of resistance when trying to introduce  social networking into the classroom. Administrators often only focus on the things that could go wrong with social networking, the liabilities, but not the possibilities for enhancing the learning experience. Here’s an article from Slate that does a pretty good job of it. Those of us in education that have been proponents of using social media in the classroom will probably find this repetitive, but maybe this is a sign that this type of thinking is gaining traction in the mainstream. http://bit.ly/8Emd52

Faculty Focus: 7 Tips for Creating a Positive Online Learning Experience #in

Yesterday, I posted some tips for Students For a Positive Distance Learning Experience. You could consider this post from Faculty Focus as the companion piece for teachers and professors. I teach a traditional instructor-led course, but because of the nature of the course (they’re both condensed and advanced courses) I think it’s important to include an online component to ensure that students have the best opportunity to succeed. Not to mention the modern student spends more time in front of the computer than they do with their noses in a book so it only makes sense to have an online component to supplement the traditional piece. Another great piece from Faculty Focus. Read it here.

Open Culture: Hottest Courses on iTunes #in

Using Social Media as an educational tool can potentially be the oft mentioned “great equalizer” in educating the masses. The possibility to enhance people’s lives and careers by allowing them to download course content from schools all over the globe makes it a worthwhile endeavor. But will we ever have this informational and educational Utopia? We’re a long way from ever having completely free higher education, but using podcasts to deliver courses is a great way to do some good and ultimately market your school and teachers to potential students. Apple’s iTunes has been the preferred delivery medium for most of the podcast content and many colleges and universities have gotten on the free course podcast bandwagon. Here’s a list of some of the schools offereing free podcasts and the courses being delivered. The list was originally posted on Open Culture, a site dedicated to promoting free cultural and educational media on the web.  Get the list here.

eLearning Curve: A “Complete” List of Open Source and Free To Use Software

This comes from the eLearning Curve blog. It’s a list of over 30 eLearning development tools. The blog post claims the list is “complete”, while it’s a nice list I know that it’s hardly exhaustive, however it is a great starting point. There’s always a new piece of software or another website trying to mimic or improve on what’s already out there, but this collection of tools is as good a starting point as any. If you are interested in developing elearning content take a look at what’s listed here and go forward from there. Happy developing folks. http://bit.ly/4xw42J

eLearn Magazine: Book Review: ‘Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology’

The following post is a review written by Jenna McWilliams of a book written by Allan Collins and Richard Halverson. Jenna’s review is less than complimentary however I’m quite interested in reading the book for myself and forming my own opions. In the meantime I’ll let you take a look at Ms. McWilliams thoughts on the book and let you decide for yourself if you think it’s worth picking up. Once I’ve read it, I’ll chime in for myself. Read Jenna’s review here.

eLearn Magazine: 10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success

Most of the posts on this blog are geared towards educators and administrators. I found a post from eLearn Magazine that couple prove immensely useful to students who are taking online courses. Here’s something that can benefit the student taking an online course. Please feel free to forward to your students or teachers and have them distribute it if you think the information in the article is helpful. http://bit.ly/62uZ3N

Campus Technology: 10 Institutions Receive Collaboration Software #in

I read a post from Campus Technology about a grant from the DyKnow corporation that is giving 10 universities collaboration software that allows users to create content through a Powerpoint presentation. I found the post so interesting because it speaks to the growing trend of online collaboration tools being made available to schools and universities. Microsoft and Google have already begun an initiative to become leaders in this emerging trend free of cost. These free and fee-based services are becoming more and more popular with educational institutions and offer great potential to change the face of education and subsequently the workplace. Get the details here.

Strategies for Preparing Your Institution for the Digital Age #in

One of the things that is sorely lacking in the Education industry (and make no bones about it, it is an “industry”) is a comprehensive plan for using technology to improve the educational experience for learners. It’s quite a strange dichotomy that so many schools are behind the curve, yet we are releasing graduates into the job market sometimes completely unprepared for the techological environment they’re going to encounter. I propose that either at a grassroots level involving teachers ,or from the top down from administration there should be a concerted effort to examine the current and emerging technologies and be proactive in finding ways to incorporate them into the classroom. Duke University, agrees with me and they’ve actually created a position called a “Digital Strategist” to address this pressing need. The Chronicle of Higher Education conducted an interview with Paolo Mangiafico who’s been given the responsibility for their institution. It’s a short article but one that gets you thinking about ways to possibly get the ball rolling at your school. Read the interview here.

Faculty Focus: Five Tips for Building Your Personal Learning Network #in http://wp.me/pGVhM-3W

With all the information floating around the interwebs, it’s easy to get “lost in the sauce” so to speak and separate fact from fluff. However, one of the most useful buzz words I’ve come to learn and make use of is the concept of a PLN (Personal Learning Network). A PLN is a network of peers and colleagues that help you become better and learn more about your discipline. Most teachers have a defacto PLN if they have a good working relationship with the other instructors at their school or institution. But if you’re going to truly make the most of your professional relationships you need to have a plan or at least a loose outline of how to make this relationships work for you. Faculty Focus is one of my favorite resources for becoming a better instructor and once again they’ve proviced a really helpful article on building an effective PLN plan. Read the complete article here.