miller’s spin

Why Blog?

Since joining the edubloggers network, I have received many comments from other educators that are using blog’s and sharing the blog’s they use for teaching, exploring technology in education and engaging parents and community.

Here are some ideas for educators using blogs:

• Content-related blog’s for your faculty knowledge sharing
• Networking and personal knowledge sharing with colleagues and industry
• Hints and tips, course announcements and additional resources for students
• Useful course links

Here are some ideas for students using blogs:

• Knowledge management and sharing
• Reflective writing, journals and scrapbooks
• Assignment submission and review, leave your comments
• Groupwork networking and resources sharing space for course-related resources
• E-portfolios

How To

More great blog ideas

If you have a blog or are using a blog, join the network by clicking on the image below. It’s amazing who you meet and collaboration with.

• Australian eduBloggers Wiki
  

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I started creating a list of sites offering free online eBooks, audio files, videos, learning tools and materials for educators, then I found this great wiki - Librarian Chick that has so many amazing listings already, I thought why create my own?

Here are a few of the tools and sites listed on - Librarian Chick that I thought were good:

Resources

• LearnOutLoud.com - offers the Internet’s largest directory of audio and video learning resources. Browse the catalogue of over 10,000 available titles including audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts, and free educational audio & video…
• FreeLoadPress - Free online textbooks
• 4Teachers - Integrate technology into your classroom with free online tools and resources
• PlanetPDF - Huge archive of free PDF books
• SuTree - An index of free video lessons, video tutorials, lectures and how to guides

Tools

• Awesome Powerpoint Tutorials - Tutorials on how to create text-FX, transparencies, DVD’s etc.
• Create A Graph - Quickly create graphs and charts
• PowerPoint Templates for Teachers - PowerPoint resources for educators
• Thumbstacks - Create and share presentations on the web
• i-Lighter - The yellow highlighter for the web
• GroupLoop - Simple web-based software to organize your group
• MindMeister Basic - Hold online real-time brainstorming sessions with friends and colleagues

And one tool that isn’t listed;

Tiny URL - Have you noticed a lot of the links that come via the Australian Flexible Learning Framework start with http://tinyurl.com? This web tool allows you to transform lengthy URL’s that often get broken up during a copy and paste, into a shorter more manageable URL. Check it out.  There’s also a Firefox extension for this.

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I’d just like to take a moment to introduce you to Linda Johnston.

Linda is the Faculty e-Learning contact for the THRAPS (Tourism Hospitality Retail and Personal Services) faculty and part of the TAFE NSW, North Coast Institute’s Learning Technology Team. The main focus of this team is to explore the use of technology in teaching and learning and to increase staff capability in this area.

Not having a background in Information Technology, Linda seemed a little nervous about the task ahead. It was clearly evident at the start that she was excited by the challenge. Her enthusiasm to learn about, implement and explore new technologies and look at how they could enhance her role as a teacher has blown me away and impressed many of her colleagues.

Linda teaches in Pharmacy and Retail and her goal is to be an e-Learning Champion and I think she already is!

“I believe Linda has embraced the opportunity to become the faculty e-Learning contact and is doing a fantastic job. She is extremely enthusiastic and has provided practical and effective support to her immediate colleagues in the faculty, many of whom are beginning to increase the use of IT in their delivery. Linda is a very capable educator making a exceptional contribution to her section, the faculty and the institute.”
Michael Callaghan
Faculty Manager, Tourism, Hospitality, Retail & Personal Services

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Check out some of the spaces Linda has created as part of her role.

Pharmacy wiki - http://northcoastinstituteoftafecommunitypharmacy.pbwiki.com (contact Linda for password details)
Linda’s blog - http://ncifelcthraps.blogspot.com/ - share Linda’s e-Learning journey

If you work in Linda’s faculty and want to share her resources, enthusiasm, or just get some help with using technology effectively in your classroom, you can contact her via email - linda.c.johnston@tafensw.edu.au

Well done Linda!

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Friday July 6th:

Attended e-Learning Networks web conference about Virtual Classrooms, let me clarify; the virtual classroom is an online classroom using web software such as Adobe Connect or Elluminate. Sessions run in these applications have a URL (web address) and offer interactive tools such as polls, share document spaces, whiteboards, chat and much more. You can facilitate quite an interactive session using the software, which often includes the use of a web camera and headset for audio and vision.

I run frequent online sessions in Adobe Connect and have attended quite a few in Elluminate. I found this session very helpful, it was highly interactive and closely examined how much interaction to include on both your online sessions and your e-Learning material.

The session looked closely at the following points;

• Is learning better in a face-to-face or virtual classroom? What the evidence says.
• What are the important instructional elements of any learning event?
• How to engage learners productively in virtual classroom events with visuals and interactions.

Guest speaker Ruth Clark led discussion on the above points, which she expands upon in her recently published book;

The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning,
by Ruth Clark and Ann Kwinn.

This session was recorded, so stay tuned for the link, it’s worth having a look at.

Ruth focused on how to harness the power of a virtual classroom by looking at the techniques required (such as interactivity, instructional design, multimedia, use of graphics, etc), rather than the technologies (although there was a slight focus on Elluminate).

Link to view recorded Elluminate Session: (link coming soon)

Link to Ruth’s slides: (link coming soon)

Website: http://www.clarktraining.com (download book intro here)

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