links

Links to web resources on Distance Learning and ePedagogy
(Let's try to keep this organized as we add to the list. Please add your initials so we know who posted what)

 = Organizational Resources =  EDUCAUSE - is a group that I have been involved with for some time, they are the organization that now administrates the .edu top level domain and are the largest group of higher education IT professionals. There are some great resourses on their main website including this Guide to Blogging: [|http://www.educause.edu/eli/GuideToBlogging/13552     =Free Conference Systems for Course Collaboration =

[|Skype (www.skype.com)] - a free-but-proprietary application for on-demand audio or video conferencing. A free account is needed. --srg [|MeBeam (www.mebeam.com)] - a newer Web-based system for on-demand audio or video conferencing. No account is needed for the Flash-based system. MeBeam may accommodate up to 16 separate video sites. --srg [|WiZiQ (www.wiziq.com)]- a free, Flash-based system for on-demand, scheduled, or recorded/archived audio or video conferencing. A free account is needed. The system is very similar to Elluminate with a whiteboard, presentation system, participant list, multi-point audio, and at least one-way video. They are actively recruiting teachers to create brief lessons for pay. The site also has a way link members across the world who have similar interests. --srg

//**CmapTools**// ([|cmap.ihmc.com]) - You already know about CmapTools, but here's the NASA Moon Mission planning maps used for the Spirit & Opportunity misssion. Pick a high-level map like the Introduction. Then navigate through some of the linked Cmaps to see how NASA used Cmap to build a network of knowledge and links to resources: http://cmex.ihmc.us/cmex/table.html -- srg <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-FAMILY: Geneva"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif"> [|****e-Learning**** (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GX94ws03o3o&feature=related)] - A brief YouTube video of the tremendous variety and the ePedagogy of an online music instructor in New Foundland, Canada. I think you'll like it! --srg
 * Examples of Tools for Online Learning (especially Free or Open Source)**

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e40c0c; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> =<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e60f0f; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center">Current Articles/Studies = **<span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> How Learning Theory and the Scientific Method may be changing. **<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">Here's an article from the new Wired magazine discussing the decreasing role of theory in science. It's a short article but it deals with a really critical idea. The article is titled // The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete //. Here's the link: --srg http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-07/pb_theory

[|**Most virtual worlds fail as business ventures.**] <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> Explore what really matters. Only 1 in 10 virtual worlds succeed because there need to be goals and objectives. The article stresses that it's the relationships rather than the technology that matter, and that most businesses will eventually have virtual worlds as part of their Internet persona. [|Read the full article here.] -- srg

<span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">A study by the Hoover Institute, a think tank at Stanford University, predicts that 50% of courses in Grades 9 to 12 will be delivered online by 2019. The link below is to a story on the report published in the Christian Science Monitor yesterday. It was also picked up by the AASA Daily News. According to the North American Council for Online Learning, enrollment in online courses reached 1 million last year. <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">[|http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p03s08-usgn.html] <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> - cas
 * Connexions from Rice University:** an Open Content model of future education: a TED presentation by Rice professor Dr. Rich Baraniuk. It's an interesting view of the future of online learning opportunities. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/25 -- srg


 * [|Here's the full article] ** from the Hoover Institute's // Education Next // journal by Christensen & Horn. It advertises the major book that will be released this summer that posits distance education as the disruptive technology that will finally bring transformative change to schools. --srg

I appreciated the authors example of Netflix, specifically how a mouse hover offers reviews and tips for a product and how this type of "ranking" may work for education. This past semester I was shown several sources where students rate faculty in a similar way. One site was something like "how hot is your teacher" that rated instructors by looks and another listed items like amount of homework, easy testing, allows late work, etc. I'm not quite so sure I like this. --src

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e57606; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">eSchool News Articles **Study Abroad through Second Life:** Ohio University’s virtual campus in Second Life has drawn online visitors from around the world. [|http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/07/02/study-abroad-through-second-life/ <span] -- dkp

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #080707; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #d01111; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> = = = = <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">**How do we transform our schools?** Use technologies that compete against nothing--by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/18575969.html = = = = =<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center">Videos <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">  = <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">e-Learning (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GX94ws03o3o&feature=related)]] <span - A brief YouTube video of the tremendous variety and the ePedagogy of an online music instructor in New Foundland, Canada. I think you'll like it! --srg<span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">
 * High Cost of Driving Ignites Online Classes Boom:** With fuel prices continuing to rise, college students are looking for ways to elliminate trips to campus. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/education/11colleges.html?ex=1216440000&en=29f5b14fe3211c7f&ei=5070&emc=eta1 -- dkp
 * <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif">Google Ventures into Virtual Reality with 'Lively '** http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/21055/?nlid=1196&a=f

EsnTV Tech Watch for July 2008--interesting news regarding limiting and charging more for internet services, computer video game project to teach students how the U.S. legal system works **FREE** of charge beginning this fall. <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">http://www.eschoolnews.tv/ -- dkp

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center"> <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: #e51010; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center">