A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?

Zaid Ali Alsagoff posted a great list of free learning tools. Zaid has suggestions for almost every learning issue and below are some of them:

• Microblogging tool? Twitter
  
• Directory of edubloggers from around the world? International Edubloggers Directory
• Wiki tool? PBwiki
• Encyclopedia, which I can add to or edit? Wikipedia
• Audio recording tool? Audacity
• Tool to host my audio recordings? Odeo
• Tool to transform media into collaborative spaces with video, voice and text commenting? VoiceThread
• Tool to tell a story? Here are 50!
• Screencasting (recording) tool? Wink
• Hosted screencasting tool? Jing
• Mindmapping tool? FreeMind
• Tool to make screenshots from different browsers with one click? Browsershots
• Easy-to-learn 3D authoring software tool? Google SketchUp

See the full article here.

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.

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.