Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Editor's Hand Picked Headline News

Angel Learning and Harcourt Education have formed an alliance for e-learning.
Complete details have not yet been revealed. Angel is the developer of the Angel LMS, a learning management system designed for both K-12 and higher ed. The company said it will provide this LMS for use with "key" Harcourt programs, but how and in what form the LMS will be integrated into the programs remains to be seen.
Epic's blended BTEC in Positive Behavioural Support
Epic, the leading e-learning company, and Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust have been working together to create a blended solution for their course in Positive Behavioural Support (PBS). The course is for support workers who provide care for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. The course is accredited by BTEC at Advanced Certificate level.
Source: TechLEARNING
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
eSN TechWatch: October 2007
eSN TechWatch: October 2007 (complete edition) from VEOH

Source: eSchool News
Monday, October 29, 2007
School Wide Communities of Practice by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Teachers operating in these communities have regular, face-to-face discussions for the purposes of reviewing evidence of student learning, determining student needs and designing interventions to address those needs.In a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Peter D. Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills registered voters revealed that Americans are deeply concerned that the United States is not preparing young people with the skills they need to compete in the global economy. What is needed is a strong commitment to help educators and educational leaders implement 21st century strategies in their schools.
Source: TechLEARNING
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail
McKellar hopes her book, Math Doesn’t Suck, makes math more understandable for girls. Included: Examples of problems and activities from the book.
Best known for her roles on The Wonder Years and The West Wing, Danica McKellar is also an internationally-recognized mathematician and advocate for math education.To help demystify math and make it more user-friendly for girls, McKeller wrote Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Breaking a Nail or Losing Your Mind, a book aimed at pre-teen and teen “girly girls.”
Video From Educause 2007: What's news This Year
Read more...
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Corsair wins top collegiate media award by Michael Rutschky
Its web site, eCorsair, took home the Online Pacemaker award, the highest award in college media.Design Matters and Flat Classroom Project 2007 Keynote
Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey’s Flat Classroom Project
Julie Lindsay is excited to announce the Flat Classroom Project 2007 Keynote Address delivered by Dean Shareski.Read more...
Flat Classroom Project Keynote is a fantastic 12 minute video presentation created by Dean Shareski
Related links
ideasandthoughts.org
Join Julie Lindsay on the Flat Classroom Project
Source: E-Learning Blog
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Information Research: an International Electronic Journal
Concentration of Web users' online information behaviour
Friday, October 26, 2007
Learning in 21st Century: A National Report of Online Learning.
This report, released on October 18, examines the views of online learning provided by more than 250,000 students, teachers and parents (across more than 3,000 schools nationwide) in response to the 2006 Project Tomorrow–NetDay Speak Up online surveys.
A sampling of key findings in the report:
- While 47% of students in grades 9–12 pursue online learning to secure courses not offered at school and 43% to work at their own pace, the top reason (42%) for students in grades 6–8 is to receive extra help
- 77% of teachers believe technology makes a difference in learning and 28% of teachers want online courses to be offered as an alternative in their district
- 42% of parents believe online classes are a good investment to improve student achievement
Related links
Thursday, October 25, 2007
eSchool News Online
Initially only offering lectures and videos from several universities, Apple's iTunes U section will expand on these by supplying debates from the Supreme Court, radio broadcasts on the civil rights movement, among other offerings in a new category they are calling "Beyond Campus".
Read more...
Related link
MacNN
The heavens are only a few mouse clicks away with Google's latest free tool: A new feature in Google Earth, the company's satellite imagery-based mapping software, allows users to view the sky from their computers. The tool provides information about various celestial bodies, from stars to planets, and includes imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources. It also allows users to take virtual tours through galaxies, including the Milky Way.Read more...
Related link
Google Earth
Source: eSchool News
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
E-learning in civil engineering – six years of experience at Graz university of Technology by Martin Ebner and Ulrich Walder
Conference
Presentation at the conference Bringing ITC knowledge to work:
Martin Ebner, Graz University of Technology, Work Group Social Learning, Austria
Ulrich Walder, Institute of Building Informatics, Graz University of Technology, Austria
Abstract
At Graz University of Technology a lot of experience in the investigation of possibilities of using Multimedia or Internet based applications in Higher Education has been gathered. Especially in the field of civil engineering we can look back to six years of practice in this field.
In 2001 the project iVISiCE (interactive Visualizations in Civil Engineering) was started. A great number of web based animations, visualisations and interactive learning objects have been developed for visualisation and simulation of basic structural concrete relations.
During the last two years the buzzword Web 2.0 shocked the traditional e-Learning World. The Internet got more interactive and usable for endusers. Phrases like "user-generated-content" and "give-and-take-culture" pervade our daily life.
From this point of view the Institute of Building Informatics decided to teach using these new tools in order to gather experiences and to play a kind of pioneering role in this field. Since winter 2005 a Wiki is used to support the main lectures of the institute. Students wrote articles themselves and collaborated in the process of learning a programming language. Finally, since this semester Podcasting has started. This means that each lecture is recorded and provided to the students in various file formats.
The paper gives an overview about all activities within the last six years. Beginning with animations and ending with the use of Web 2.0 applications, like Wikis or Podcasts, we have always tried to ensure high quality of our education. In the summary it is clear that these small, but regular innovations definitely helped to improve the lectures in the field of civil engineering.
Read more...
Related link
Blogging in Higher Education by Martin Ebner and Hermann Maurer, Graz University of Technology
Source: e-Learning Blog
More Online Enrollments by Andy Guess
More students than ever are taking courses online, but that doesn’t mean the growth will continue indefinitely. That’s the takeaway from the Sloan Foundation’s latest survey, conducted with the Babson Survey Research Group, of colleges’ online course offerings.With results from nearly 4,500 institutions of all types, the report, “Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning”, found that in fall 2006, nearly 3.5 million students — or 19.8 percent of total postsecondary enrollments — took at least one course online. That’s a 9.7-percent increase over the previous year, but growth has been slowing significantly: last year, the jump was 36.5 percent
Read more...
Related link
Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning by I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman represents the fifth annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education. This year’s study, like those for the previous four years, is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education. Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and based on responses from more than 2,500 colleges and universities, the study addresses the following key questions:
How Many Students are Learning Online?
Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning
See 2007's Best Online Courses from the Brandon Hall Research

- A screen capture of the winning course
- A link to view an online video recording of the entry
- A description of the problem the course was designed to address
- A description of the intended audience
- The software tools that were used to create the course
- The staffing, effort, and budget required to create the course
- Judges' candid comments
- Contact information for the entrant
This report can help take your custom built online courseware to a new level.
- Find out what content development applications leading developers use to create their high-impact courses.
- Plan your budget and staff accordingly by seeing how professional custom content providers manage a course development project.
- Implement the best practices of professional developers to improve the training you provide.
- If you're considering outsourcing a course development project, this report will provide a glimpse into the styles of the best courseware creators.
Read more...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Editor's Hand Picked Headline News
Monday, October 22, 2007
Udutu: Online Course Authoring Tools
Read more...
Source: Distance-Educator.com
Lecturers' attitudes about the use of learning management systems in engineering education: A Swedish case study
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Blogging in Higher Education by Martin Ebner and Hermann Maurer, Graz University of Technology

I came across a very interesting entry in the e-Learning Blog
E-Learn 2007 -- Quebec City, Canada, Oct. 15-19, 2007
Presentation at the E-Learn Conference in Quebec
Authors
Martin Ebner, Graz University of Technology, Work Group Social Learning, Austria
Hermann Maurer, Graz University of Technology, Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media, Austria
Abstract
This paper describes a Web2.0 approach to distant teaching a master course for students of informatics on Graz University of Technology. The course has been implemented by using a blogosphere for writing and collaborating. Students were able to choose whether they contribute to a new didactical concept on voluntary basis instead of writing the essays in a traditional way. The aim is to show that a good didactical concept combined with technological implementations can enhance the purposes of learning and teaching at educational institutions. The complete concept as well as all implementations are described and discussed. The publication points out that the use of the blogosphere named TU Graz LearnLand helped to turn the content of the lecture to a more student-centered one. In the end it must be taken into account, that this considerable effort requires a change of the role of the lecturers.
Read more...
Related links
Graz University of Technology
International Journal on E-Learning (IJEL)
Source: e-Learning Blog
Recommended book: Collaborative Learning in Mathematics: A Challenge to Our Beliefs and Practices
Many people find mathematics an impenetrable subject. It is a subject where it seems possible to spend many years practising skills and notations without having any substantial understanding of the underlying concepts. This book describes one systematic attempt to intervene and transform this situation. It documents the difficulties experienced by teachers and students as they attempt to adopt new approaches to teaching and learning - approaches based on collaborative discussion and reflection. The book describes an iterative design approach to research and development in which theoretical arguments and reviews of existing research studies are brought together in the design of innovative teaching approaches. These are evaluated in typical classrooms and the outcomes lead to the further refinement of the theories and approaches. Revised approaches are then tested further on a wider scale. The emerging results reveal ways in which teaching methods in mathematics may be designed to become more effective.
Malcolm Swan is a lecturer in Mathematics Education at University of Nottingham and is a leading designer on the MARS team. His research interests lie in the design of teaching and assessment. He has worked for many years on research and development projects concerning diagnostic teaching (including ways of using misconceptions to promote long term learning), reflection and metacognition and the assessment of problem solving. For five years he was Chief Examiner for one of the largest examination boards in England. He is also interested in teacher development and has produced many courses and resources for the inservice training of teachers.Read the 50 page booklet by Malcolm Swan which describes the Thinking Through Mathematics approaches. Improving learning in mathematics: challenges and strategies
Improving learning in mathematics: challenges and strategies
Sloan-C Announcement: May Symposium Call For Papers extended to December 3rd
Related link
Sloan-C has launched a new web site focused on Blended Learning. This is a free resource and we encourage you to invite your colleagues to join this growing community of blended learning educators.
www.blendedteaching.org
Source: The Sloan Consortium
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Mathematics Research and Education
Mathematics for Economics: Enhancing Teaching and Learning How to create an electronic portfolio with GoogleDocs--Document
Below is a diagram showing how all the Google apps can work together to form an eportfolio system.
Source: Helen C. Barrett, Ph.D.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Innovate’s New Look/October-November Innovate-Live Webcasts

Innovate-Live webcasts offer an opportunity to interact synchronously with authors of selected articles in the October/November issue of Innovate.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Organizational Storytelling and Blogs from Brandon Hall Research
Emerging E-Learning Content:New Approaches to Delivering Engaging Online Learning
Emerging E-Learning Technologies:Tools for Developing Innovative Online Training
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Judging Panel Announced for Interwrite Makeover Video Contest
With less than a week remaining in the contest, Interwrite Learning, a leading provider of interactive learning solutions for schools around the world, today announced the names of five judges who will evaluate the submitted videos for the first Interwrite Makeover™ video contest.
The judges are Andrew J. Rotherham, Tony Brewer, Jenny Barrett, John Merline and Jessica O’Masta. The selected judges represent internet communities, education blogs and social networks.
Fifteen finalists will be announced on Friday, October 26, 2007, and the one final winner from each grade segment will later be announced on Tuesday, November 27, 2007. Each interactive makeover is valued at approximately $15,000, with a total of more than $50,000 in prizes to be awarded. Included in that is a celebration party for each winning entry’s entire school.
Read more...
Related link
Interwrite Learning and TeacherTube Video Contest
3 Districts Deploy Differentiated Math Tutoring System by Dave Nagel
SmartHelp is a tutoring solution designed to act as a complement to differentiated instruction. The Web-based system provides a "multi-tiered escalation model that integrates its intelligent tutoring system and live one-on-one human tutors." The system is aligned with NCTM and state math standards.






























