ruminators' ilk

Designing for E-Learning 

The author of this article is Mark Nichols, E-learning Specialist .Bible College of New Zealand.

Read the introduction:

Faculty are often too busy to seriously consider learning design. Rather than embracing its open-endedness and seeing the almost limitless potential for customising it to their own educational purposes, we often hear comments such as ‘Just show me how it looks and I’ll get on with it’, or ‘Do you have a sample that I could look at and use as a template?’ (There is a clear parallel with ‘Just give me what’s in the exam’!) It is all too easy to provide examples and templates, and so give the impression that instructional design for e-learning is simply about filling in blanks and copying exemplars. But instructional design and e-learning have too much potential and variety to even consider a Model-T Ford approach to development. Faculty also tend to think of writing courses rather than creating learning experiences. This e-primer aims to help you, as faculty, to think creatively about how to match what you would like students to learn with an enlightening learning experience. 

This e-primer provides a framework for deciding how you might apply instructional design and e-learning to any given educational context. The framework is relevant to all educational contexts, but the discussion assumes a tertiary education context in humanities, and a distance education or hybrid delivery model. I do not consider Web 2.0 technologies and techniques in depth here (for that discussion, see E-Primer 5, Extending Possibilities). 

I acquired this resource from Instructional Technology Forum,1 March 2008.

Recommended.

This is a 34-page PDF file.

Designing for E-Learning 

Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance Learning 

This valuable resource, an introduction to instructional design,isavailable online for free.

I acquired this resource from Mark Nichols's article Designing for E-Learning. 

Creating Learning Materials for Open and Distance Learning

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

This report from the United States Department of Education concludes ““On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.”

This is a 93-page report.

Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies

Blown Up:  More Inflatable Military Stuff

This comes from the blog  Strange Harvest, Architecture, Design, Art and More, 01.01.08.

Blown Up:  More Inflatable Military Stuff

How to Be a Leader in Your Field

Advice from Phil Agre, Department of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. 10.07.05.

How to Be a Leader in Your Field

The New Literacy:  Programming

This article comes from Edutopia Magazine, February 2008.  The author is Marc Prensky.

The New Literacy:  Programming

12 Screencasting Tools for Creating Video Tutorials

This resource comes from the Web site Mashable, 02.21.08, by Sean P. Aune.

12 Screencasting Tools

Online Sign Generator

Useful, and fun to play with.

Online Sign Generator

99 Resources to Research and Mine the  Invisible Web

Here are just a few:

Agrisurf: If you're searching for information related to agriculture and farming, check out this engine.

IncyWincy: This search engine canvasses the deep web.

Direct Search: Direct Search covers the invisible web, offering results in books, government, and much more.

SurfWax: The SurfWax search engine taps into the deep web and offers search tools for feeds, news, blogs, and more.

ZoomInfo: Get information about corporations and job searchers here.

Internet Archive: Here you'll be able to find movies, music, text, and more, even including sites and pages that no longer exist.

TenKWizard: This business search engine covers Forbes, specific industries, and exchanges.

ZabaSearch: This search engine serves up public records like phone numbers and addresses.

This resource is from the Web site CollegeDegree.com .  Published 02.13.08 by Jessica Hupp.

99 Resources

Rapid E-Learning Blog

This blog is the creation of Tom Kuhlmann, who shares tricks and tips about E-learning.

BONUS: If you subscribe to this blog, you get a free 46-page book, The Insider's Guide to Beoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro.

Rapid E-Learning Blog

Student as Scholar Blog

The "Student As Scholar" blog was formally created on July 25 2008. The Blog
is devoted to documenting relevant literature that supports the view that :

"Undergraduate education should adopt the ³Student as Scholar² Model
throughout the curriculum, where scholar is conceived in terms of an
attitude, an intellectual posture, and a frame of mind derived from the best
traditions of an engaged liberal arts education. With this framework, not
only each research project, but also each course, is viewed as an
integrated, and integrating, part of the student experience."

From "Convocation to Capstone: Developing the Student as Scholar"David
Hodge, Kira Pasquesi, Marissa Hirsh / Miami University ; Paul LePore /
University ofWashington.

This resource acquired from DEOS-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU ,07.26.08.

Student as Scholar Blog

CISCO's Educational Games for Work Place Training

I experimented with the games to get some ideas for my own educational gaming designs.

Free!  You will see a prompt asking you for provide a name for playing the games.

CISCO Learning Games

Until next time!

GOOGLE PRESENTATION

Google has launched Presentation, a tool for making presentations, much like Microsoft’s PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote. Google Presentation is part of Google Docs, a suite of tools that was previously called Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

Try it!

GROCKIT

Grockit is a venture corporation , located in San Francisco, working on the development of massive multiplayer online learning applications.

Grockit is a play on the word grok, which means "to understand something so well it becomes part of you."

This page appears on the Web site Tech Crunch 07.24.07.

GROCKIT

Blog Grab Bag

72 Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena

Optical illusions galore and explanations for the phenomena.

This Web page appears on Impressum, 09.14.07, the Web site of Michael Bach.  I acquired the link from Stephen Downes'  Web site, Stephen's Web 09.14.07.

72 Optical Illusions

InfraView

InfraView is a graphic viewer software / freeware.

This utility allows you to  convert, optimize, scan and print images; create slideshows; and play movies.

Infra View

COLLABORATION NEWSBYTES  

Check out new and upcoming events with The Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning.

REGISTER NOW!

For another great Collaboration conference experience, register now for the November 16-17, 2007, conference, "Promoting Deep Learning: Cultivating Intellectual Curiosity, Creativity, and Engagement in College." The conference offers more than 30 preconference and concurrent sessions and features a keynote address by Ken Bain, author of What the Best College Teachers Do (Harvard University Press, 2004).

HOLD THESE DATES!

The Collaboration's February conference theme is "Critical Thinking in the Age of the Internet." The conference will be held at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel , Bloomington, Minnesota. Interested in submitting a concurrent session proposal? View the Call for Proposals for guidelines and deadlines.

START THE YEAR OFF RIGHT WITH THE COLLABORATION’S TRAVELING WORKSHOPS

What’s the best way to ensure a great faculty or staff development workshop experience with guest facilitators on your campus, other than researching and auditioning presenters yourself? Tap into The Collaboration’s talented pool of workshop facilitators! We recruit our presenters, work with them to design workshop outlines and materials, match our talent to your needs, and monitor workshop results, including session evaluations. With help from our staff to find the perfect fit for your needs, you can choose a single workshop, a workshop series, or several workshops together to create a conference with concurrent sessions and multiple learning opportunities. We can customize the program to serve your needs, even combining it with our program consulting and evaluation services. Call us for help creating a plan to meet your needs for the coming academic year, but check out our online catalog first. There’s also a handy online inquiry form!

DIVERSITY À LA CARTE

Whether you need one workshop on inclusive teaching for an annual campus event or departmental retreat, an article on developing a campus diversity plan to help guide your own planning, or a comprehensive approach to internationalizing the curriculum, The Collaboration can help you put together a program package to meet your unique campus needs. Choose from Traveling Workshops on a variety of topics; review articles for discussion in learning communities; or invite a team of external evaluators to assess a campus diversity initiative.

Check out our à la carte menu for more information .

ASSESSMENT À LA CARTE
Is your institution eager to improve its efforts to assess student learning? Are you trying to find ways to create a "culture of assessment" among faculty, staff, and students or "close the loop" between assessment and the improvement of teaching? The Collaboration has a long history of programming in this area, including four major conferences and Summer Institutes, and we've worked to embed assessment into all the programs we do. Whether you need one Traveling Workshop, such as "Exploring the New Assessments," expert consultation for your leadership team, access to a professional network focused on assessment, or a combination of services on assessing general education, we can help you put together a customized package to strengthen your assessment efforts.

This blog entry is a cut and paste from the Collaboration Web site 09.23.07.

PRINCIPLES OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT

It's the little things that matter in human relationships, such as acknowledging people's good work and actions.

The excerpt below from The Power of Acknowledgment  (2006) by Judith W. Umlas addresses the importance of acknowledgment skills in all areas of life, professional and personal.

I acquired Umlas' excerpt from Projects@Work , 07.17.07 issue.

Subscription to this site's newsletter is free with registration.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Principles of Acknowledgment

Can sincere acknowledgment make a difference in the performance and health of project teams?

There is a simple, no-cost tool available to everyone that can transform lethargic, frustrated project teams into productive, high-level performers. This incredible tool, according to Judy Umlas, is "the power of acknowledgment." It's also the title of a book she has authored. In the introduction, the senior vice president for the International Institute for Learning says she hopes to help people understand and use a tool that "can produce profound and dramatic changes in our intimate circles and far beyond," from spouses to coworkers. And here Umlas shares her seven principles of acknowledgment.

1. The world is full of people who deserve to be acknowledged.

It will be easier to acknowledge those you care most about if you start by practicing your acknowledgment skills on people you don't know very well, or even know at all. Then you will begin making the world a happier place.

2. Acknowledgment builds intimacy and creates powerful interactions.

Acknowledge the people around you directly and fully, especially those with whom you are in an intimate relationship. What is it about your spouse, your daughter, your uncle, your oldest colleague or subordinate that you want to acknowledge? Look for ways to say how much you value them, and then be prepared for miracles.

3. Acknowledgment neutralizes, defuses, deactivates and reduces the effect of jealousy and envy. Acknowledge those you are jealous of, for the very attributes you envy. Watch the envy diminish and the relationship grow stronger as you grow to accept valuable input from the person you were envying.

4. Recognizing good work leads to high energy, great feelings, high-quality performance and terrific results. Not acknowledging good work causes lethargy, resentment, sorrow and withdrawal. Recognize and acknowledge good work, wherever you find it. It's not true that people only work hard if they worry whether you value them. Quite the opposite!

5. Truthful, heartfelt and deserved acknowledgment always makes a difference, sometimes a profound one, in a person's life and work. Rarely given acknowledgements have no more value than frequent ones. Sincere praise should not be withheld due to fear of diminishing returns, of appearing inappropriate or out of embarrassment. These obstacles can and should be overcome in order for you and your recipients to reap the tremendous rewards.

6. It is likely that acknowledgment can improve the emotional and physical health of both the giver and the receiver. There is already substantial scientific evidence that gratitude and forgiveness help well being, alertness and energy, diminish stress and feelings of negativity, actually boosting the immune system. It is reported that they can even reduce the risk of stroke and heart failure. This research leads us to believe that acknowledging others has similar effects.

7. Practice different ways of getting through to the people you want to acknowledge. Develop an acknowledgment repertoire that will give you the tools to reach out to the people in your life in the different ways that will be the most meaningful to each situation and each person.

Excerpted from The Power of Acknowledgment (©2006 IIL Publishing, New York) by Judith W. Umlas.

Source: http://www.projectsatwork.com/article.cfm?ID=237275

Until next time!

Hello, all.

It has been some time since Ruminators' Ilk was last published.  Notice the blog has a new look.  I was tired of the crabby-looking medieval goat and chose this goat family instead.  By the way,  they are eating spinach.

This is Amanda (Mandy) Alcorn, a law enforcement student at Inver Hills. Mandy also happens to be the online student mentor for my D2L classes. 

Mandy is a wonder. As a D2L student mentor, she offers the following traits:

*High standards  *Commitment to excellence   *Proven D2L expertise  *Respect for the abilities of others  *Commitment to shared learning  *Willingness to be an advocate and supporter  *Trustworthiness * Care and empathy  *Effective communication skills *Creativity and openness  *Self-confidence and ability to affirm others  *Positive attitude  *Flexibility *Ethical behavior

She and I also laugh a lot together.

The message here:  Consider partnering with a student mentor for your online classes.

Learning for Life : IHCC's Academy for Lifelong Learning

The Academy for Lifelong Learning at IHCC is a community of learners of all ages. Its goal is to provide access to opportunities for intellectual and personal growth that are the core mission of the college. Quality class facilitators, flexibility in time and place, variety in delivery methods, and creative use of the best in technology make the ALL program at IHCC unique.

Best Practices for Faculty Who Teach Online  (This is a 14 page PDF file.)

Hawkins, Amy KM. "Bytes and Sites:  Ethnography as a Writing Pedagogy in a Digital Age."  Kairos, 7 (3).

The author discusses how ethnography and technology are useful for writing instruction.

Bytes and Sites

World Clock

Notice how fast "Oil Produced" tabulates.

World Clock

Houses in Weird Places

Which of these houses would you like to live in?

Houses in Weird Places

Soople.com

Another search engine to try.

Soople.com

The Pursuit of Excellence and Willingness to Always be at the Beginning:  THE PARABLE OF THE BLACK BELT

This summer, I have been working on a dressage movement, the half-pass, and having a difficult time of it. The half-pass, when executed correctly, has a beautiful flow.  My movement is choppy.  My dressage "master," although supportive, reminded me that excellent horsemanship takes a life time; there is no limit. He also reminded me that great riders have great humility.  He then shared the parable of the black belt.

I pass the parable along to you:

"The Parable of the Black Belt"

Picture a martial artist kneeling before the master sensei in a ceremony to
receive a hard-earned black belt.  After years of relentless training, the
student has finally reached a pinnacle of achievement in the discipline.

"Before granting the belt, you must pass one more test," says the sensei.

"I am ready," responds the student, expecting perhaps one final round of
sparring.

"You must answer the essential question: What is the true meaning of the
black belt?"

"The end of my journey," says the student. "A well-deserved reward for all
my hard work."

The sensei waits for more. Clearly, he is not satisfied. Finally, the
sensei speaks. "You are not yet ready for the black belt. Return in one
year."

A year later, the student kneels again in front of the sensei.

"What is the true meaning of the black belt?" asks the sensei.

"A symbol of distinction and the highest achievement in our art," says the
student.

The sensei says nothing for many minutes, waiting. Clearly, he is not
satisfied. Finally, he speaks. "You are still not ready for the black belt.
Return in one year."

A year later, the student kneels once again in front of the sensei. And
again the sensei asks: "What is the true meaning of the black belt?"

"The black belt represents the beginning -- the start of a never-ending
journey of discipline, work, and the pursuit of an ever-higher standard,"
says the student.

"Yes. You are now ready to receive the black belt and begin your work."

Until next time!

OTTERS HOLDING HANDS

This is a short YouTube video via  GOOGLE Video.

Otters Holding Hands

NEED TO KNOW

Need to Know is a sarcastic British tech newsletter read worldwide.  The editor is Danny O'Brien.

Subscribe for free.

Need to Know

v1 GOLF

This golfing software provides analysis of your swing.

I acquired this resource from the blog Anabubula.

v1 Golf

FULBRIGHT VISITING SPECIALISTS PROGRAM:  DIRECT ACCESS TO THE MUSLIM WORLD

This notice comes from  Amy Hirsch [AHirsch@CIES.IIE.ORG].  Note:  The deadline to apply for the calendar year 2008: May 1, 2007. 

Do you want to enrich your campus' and community's understanding of Islam?