7 Ways Teachers Can Use Online Tools to Keep Students Interested

A 22 year old gives advice to teachers and parents on teens and young adults. Interesting post on how teachers can use onlines resources effectively to engage this generation with learning:

“Can schools keep up with their net-generation, text-savvy students? A lecture and a white board pale in comparison to online videos, cell phone games, interactive virtual worlds and 3-d animation. Already, schools have been incorporating more high-tech technology such as smart boards and projectors in the classroom. My old high school uses ipods to test and record listening comprehension. This is great–and really expensive.

I plan on writing a few blog posts on this topic, but I first wanted to review a few free resources teachers (and parents) can use in the classroom or for homework to keep kids interested in learning. Most of all, by employing new technology you will be speaking in this generation’s language, appeal to what already interests them and therefore make school really relevant to their lives.”

Author: Vanessa Ven Petten, vanessavanpetten.com, 16th March 2008

Full article available here.

Also great interview with Vanessa available from OpenEducation.net here.

The Many Virtues of the Virtual Lab

Very interesting article on virtual labs and their uses in science classes with limited lab equipment:

“Thanks to rapid development in information technology, all real life situations can be simulated on your very computer screen, loaded with programs such as Java, Flash, Real media etc. With increasing number of e-learning companies and academic websites offering virtual laboratories, it is easier today than ever before, for a science teacher to use virtual lab. He simply needs to download the virtual experiment from the World Wide Web or buy it as part of an e-learning package from product manufacturers. Virtual labs can help the teacher and the taught, to a significant extent. Let us visit a few virtual classrooms.”

Author: P.R. Guruprasad, TechLearning, 1st April 2008

Full article available here.

Desire2Learn Launches Web Services for Learning Management

CMS/LMS developer Desire2Learn this week launched Web Services 1.0, a set of Web-based enhancements for the D2L Learning Environment and D2L Learning Platform. Modules included with the 1.0 release include “organization structure management, enrolment management, and gradebook entry and lookup,” according to the company.

Author: Dave Nagel, T.H.E. Journal, 6th April 2008

Full article available here.

Homeschooling on the rise in the US, thanks to adundance of online resources

Homeschooling Innovations and Networks
The continued growth of the number of home­schooling families has led to a proliferation of resources and networks that facilitate homeschool­ing. Twenty-five years ago, a family that wanted to homeschool would likely have had limited curricu­lum and instructional options. Today, the options are nearly boundless. A Google search on “home schooling” produces more than 13 million hits.[21] This demonstrates the wide range of instruction options and homeschooling networks that parents can access when they choose to homeschool their children.

Parents can find and purchase curriculum mate­rials through online exchanges and other net­works.[22] Hundreds of Web sites, blogs, and books are devoted to supporting parents who home­school. In some cases, parents can access free or low-cost instructional products to teach their chil­dren. Other options include online learning services such as K12.com, which offers professionally devel­oped courses online for relatively low monthly fees.[23] Across the United States, a growing number of for-profit tutoring providers are in operation, such as Kumon and Sylvan Learning Centers, which offer parents opportunities to provide supplemen­tary instruction to their children.

Author: Dan Lips and Evan Feinberg, The Heritage Foundation, 3rd April 2008

Full article available here.

Spotlight: Free Science Resources Online

Looking for ways to encourage student interest in science? These authoritative sites arm teachers not only with free multimedia, projects, and other deep resources, but also lesson plans and standards-aligned, curriculum-focused materials that will help you make the most of these educational and entertaining tools.

1. MIT OpenCourseWare: Free Education for All
MIT’s OpenCourseWare for Secondary Education (OCW SE), also known as Highlights for High School, is the first attempt on MIT’s part to bring OCW to secondary education and the first step in a broader plan for secondary education that has been in development since 2006.

Author: Dave Nagel, T.H.E. Journal, 5th April 2008

Full article available here.

FutureLab - Learners are key to solving inequality in education

A new handbook from Futurelab shows how learners can play a key role in the design of educational technology, and so help tackle growing inequalities in education. Funded by CfBT Education Trust and launched today by Baroness Estelle Morris, ‘Designing Educational Technologies for Social Justice’ explores the role that digital technologies can play in reducing inequality in education and offers guidance on designing educational resources that benefit disadvantaged learners.

A key message from the handbook to developers, teachers and other education practitioners such as community groups is that, in order to design educational technology and projects to reduce inequality, you have to involve those using it throughout the design process. A tokenistic gesture – user testing an idea once development is under way or complete – will not suffice. Designers are also urged to avoid simply reusing technologies and projects that have worked in the past - what works in one place and with one group of people may not work well in a new environment.

Author: FutureLab, 2nd April 2008

Full article available here.

Becta publishes Emerging technologies for learning volume 3 (2008)

The ‘Emerging technologies for learning’ series aims to help readers consider how emerging technologies may impact on education and learners in the medium term. The publications are not intended to be a comprehensive review of educational technologies, but offer some highlights across the broad spectrum of developments and trends. It should open readers up to some of the possibilities that are developing and the potential for technology to transform our ways of working, learning and interacting over the next three to five years. This is available on the web.
Copies can be downloaded from

http://www.becta.org.uk/research/reports/emergingtechnologies

Author: Andy Black, Flux Blog, 3rd April 2008

Full article available here.

SLanguages 2008:

Virtual Conference Explores New Frontiers in Language Learning

Barcelona Spain, 20 March 2008 - - SLanguages 2008 is a 24-hour multilingual conference to celebrate and investigate the use of 3D virtual worlds for language education. The event will be held in Second Life on 23-24 May 2008…

SLanguages 2008 is a 24 hour multilingual conference to celebrate and investigate the use of 3D virtual worlds for language education. The conference will be held within Second Life allowing the participants to exchange ideas and share experiences simultaneously around the world. The online conference is free to attend and includes talks, workshops, discussions and posters on language education using virtual worlds such as Second Life. The events will cover methodologies, teaching tools and experiences.

Second Life is a 3D virtual world that has attracted over 12 million residents worldwide and has become a mainstream phenomenon for education, business and entertainment. Throughout 2007 Second Life has become an important tool for language learning with many universities using the 3D world for language tuition, including Michigan State University and the University of Southampton. “Interest in using Second Life for education has increased exponentially over the last year” says Second Life educational consultant Gavin Dudeney, author of The Internet and the Language Classroom, Longman 2007.

The event is an opportunity for those new to virtual language teaching to learn about the opportunities virtual worlds offer. The conference also allows experienced language educators to share experiences and ideas. “3D virtual worlds such as Second Life offer a unique form of immersive learning not found elsewhere. The SLanguages 2008 conference is the perfect opportunity to see the recent developments in this area and to meet those involved in truly innovative educational projects” says Graham Stanley, who has established the British Council’s ‘Learn English Second Life for Teens’.

SLanguages 2008 will be hosted within Second Life on the tropical “EduNation” islands owned by The Consultants-E. The conference starts 10am (PST) Friday 23 May and ends 10am (PST) Saturday 24 May. The seminars will continue to also reach a much wider audience through archives of the event on the www.slanguages.net website.

To register for the conference or for further information, please contact Gavin Dudeney of The Consultants-E or visit the website www.slanguages.net.

About The Consultants-E:

The Consultants-E is an educational consultancy company specialising in online education, offering tailored consultancy in technology for education. Their consultants assist companies and educational institutions to integrate innovative technologies into their teaching practices. The company also offers courses in e-learning tools such as Second Life, wikis, podcasts and Moodle. The Consultants-E own and run three private islands in Second Life that foster education and training.

Contact:

Gavin Dudeney
The Consultants-E
c/ Cerámica 54
08035 Barcelona
Spain

gavin.dudeney@theconsultants-e.com
www.theconsultants-e.com

Dudeney Ge (Avatar in Second Life)

[Authorised press release from The Consultants-E]

Not a substitute but a supporter Phil!

“Computers are no substitute for the real thing” says Phil Beadle in an article in education Guardian today. http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2269745,00.html

He goes on to rubbish BETT, the “nerds” at BECTA and presumably Futurelab and seems to suggest that the solution to all this “techie” stuff is to give everyone an HB pencil!

Author: Bob Harrison, Flux Blog, 1st April 2008
Full article available here. Great video worth a look. Created by students by of ACU showing how iPhones and related technologies are used in student life and pedagogy.

RM INFORM Conference

1 May 2008
Bristol

A free one-day conference aimed at headteachers, principals, senior managers and e-learning directors in secondary schools and colleges, providing an opportunity to gather ideas and to share experience and knowledge with friends, colleagues and educational experts. The theme this year is Partnerships for Learning.

www.rm.com/Secondary/Events/Article.asp?cref=MCET778941

Author: FutureLab

See article here.