• E-portfolios, Sakai, and ‘new paradigms’
  Batson, T. (2012) The Wait is Over: The LMS and the ePortfolio Merge to Serve a Culture of Learning Campus Technology, May 16 In this article, Batson argues that Sakai’s OAE (Open Academic Environment – formerly Sakai 3) reflects a new paradigm of online learning, moving from an instructor-led [...]
• Free online workshop on open content licensing
  2012 is a significant year for open education. It is 10 years since UNESCO adopted the term “Open Educational Resources” (OER). In joining the global celebrations, the OER Foundation will host a free OCL4Ed workshop. Open content licensing for educators   (OCL4Ed) is a  free online  worksh [...]
• Google Docs adds search to documents
  I opened up a new Google Doc this morning and was greeted with a new Google Docs feature called Research. Use this research tool to learn more information about the topics in your document. Well now, this looks interesting. And potentially very useful. At first, I thought that Google had come up wi [...]
• Links for 2012-05-16 [del.icio.us]
  Meet The New Boss, Worse Than The Old Boss? There is a quasi religious tone to many tech convention speeches and press releases. What other industry constantly professes utopian visions for all humanity? What other industry would dare proclaim they were liberating artists? Students? Workers? What o [...]
• 10 types of plagiarism (and why I’m pleading guilty to at least one charge)
  © TurnItIn, 2012 Bailey, J. (2012) TurnItIn Analyzes the Spectrum of Plagiarism, Plagiarism Today, May 10 TurnItIn (2012) The Plagiarism Spectrum: Instructor Insights into the 10 Types of Plagiarism, TurnItIn, the creator of anti-plagiarism software, has produced a useful if somewhat picky report [...]
• Beyond Content: Open Ed Party in Van Rock City
  One of the most fun, satisfying and memorable experiences of my life was co-organizing the Open Education Conference here in Vancouver back in 2009. So it’s a thrill to be working with so many of the same people again for another kick at it this fall, October 16-18, pushing the theme Beyond Conte [...]
• Examples from Ontario colleges of faculty development in online learning
  This is the third in a series of guest blogs on innovative developments in online learning in Ontario post-secondary institutions. (The first was examples of hybrid learning and the second was examples of virtual worlds. simulations and mobile apps.) In this post, Judith Tobin of Contact North| Co [...]
• New MIT president a driving force behind MITx and edX
  L. Rafael Reif, MITs new President-elect L. Rafael Reif, a distinguished electrical engineer, who is completing his seven-year tenure as MIT’s provost, has been selected as the 17th president of the Institute. As the Institute’s chief academic officer since 2005, Reif led the development of  M [...]
• Dreamin’ dream dream dream
  The quiet in this space has not been due to a lack of notable activity in my life. Sadly, I don’t think I can share much of it right now. But I bet Abject readers — the true, the bold, the weak and the chatty — will discern where I am at by these two all-too-apt video choices: Believe me, I am [...]
• Links for 2012-05-15 [del.icio.us]
  Meet The New Boss, Worse Than The Old Boss? There is a quasi religious tone to many tech convention speeches and press releases. What other industry constantly professes utopian visions for all humanity? What other industry would dare proclaim they were liberating artists? Students? Workers? What o [...]
• Do we learn less from e-books?
  Szalavitz, M. (2012) Do E-Books Make It Harder to Remember What You Just Read? Time Healthland, March 14 This excellent article looks at research done at the University of Leicester, and also draws on experience from a number of people, that suggests that ‘physical books are best when you want t [...]
• An opportunity to win an international award for e-learning
  Submissions for the 2012 International E-Learning Awards – Academic Division, presented by the International E-Learning Association (IELA), are due soon! The Entry Submission Page is posted on the IELA site and the deadline for submission is June 1, 2012.  Awards will be given for successful c [...]
• Two Sloan-C conferences on online learning
  5th Annual Sloan Consortium/MERLOT Emerging Technologies for Online Learning International Symposium July 25-27, 2012 The Venetian and Palazzo Resort – Las Vegas, Nevada This joint symposium of Sloan Consortium and MERLOT is devoted to the emerging and innovative uses of technology designed to im [...]
• Beaming: James Cameron may have been onto something with “Avatar”
  Photo Source: Federico Campoli (CC BY-NC-SA) Last week we saw the parallels between ourselves and superheroes as seen in “the Avengers.” However, it appears as though we may soon have more in common with Academy Award winning “Avatar” instead. According to BBC News, the European Commission [...]
• European forum on quality in e-learning: promoting innovation in education
  The Alhambra, Granada (photo: © Tony Bates, 2009) What EFQUEL (the European Foundation for Quality in e-Learning) is holding a three day forum on ‘“Learning for Open Innovation”…. Transformation and Change for Future Learning.’ From the program: How can we turn our traditional education [...]
• Pedagogy drives technology drives pedagogy
  We are in the process of switching to Moodle 2.1 from Moodle 1.9. We’ve been planning this switch for a year but, like many tech projects, it doesn’t matter how much planning and testing you do, the real test happens when users start rolling in. We’re at that point right now. People are starti [...]
• Nine steps to quality online learning: Step 3: Work in a Team
  In this post I argue that one of the strongest means of ensuring quality is to work as part of a team. This is the fourth in a series of 10 posts on designing quality online courses. The first three posts (which should be read before this post) are: Nine steps to quality online learning: introducti [...]
• A Road Trip: Thoughts so far
  The advantage of the interstate highway is that it carries you quickly and relatively smoothly where you want to go.  The disadvantage is that it does not allow you to stop anywhere to take photographs. What I would have taken: The giant windmills striding across the ridges and fields. Lines of sig [...]
• What a team!
  Recently at a BCcampus all staff meeting in Sidney, BC I was called upon to say a few words about our outgoing co-op students, Diana Chan and Hilda Anggraeni. I stood up and blurted out "They have changed our lives" then went on to try to explain, which was impossible in a short couple of [...]
• Coding Reflection – Reading and Testing
  Reading Reading books about the technologies that you are using is really important. It gives you something that just looking at existing code doesn’t. Over time a code base tends to train developers into doing things “it’s way” and it takes an external influence to help pull the team into [...]

powered by RSS Just Better 0.7 plugin