This blog focuses on my scholarship in my five research projects: learning assistance and equity programs, student peer study group programs, learning technologies, Universal Design for Learning, and history simulations. And occasional observations about life.
Harnesing Social Media for Promote Ideas
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10 Ways to Leverage LinkedIn to Generate Business | Social Media Today Not only can the strategies be used to build business, but also could be used to increase influence within education, nonprofit organizations, and public causes. (tags: LinkedIn social_media)
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Top 19 Free Photo Sites For Bloggers | Social Media Today Blog postings are more inviting and interesting with thoughtful use of photographs that relate to the posting. This list of nearly 20 web sites of copyright-free photographs and images is a perfect resource. (tags: social_media blogs copy-right_free_images)
Mobile Computing Opportunities
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A New Research Agenda for Mobile Learning-Transform, Univ. of Minnesota "No longer are the hallmarks of an academically engaged student or scholar a hefty backpack overflowing with books, a desk littered with journal articles, or a remote research carrel hidden in the darkened recesses of the stacks. Instead, the visible markers of the learner are manifest in increasingly smaller portable devices that have the capacity to store, retrieve, send, search, download, compose, edit, capture, and publish whatever materials may be necessary to accomplish a given learning goal. The very portability of learning content coupled with the communicative power of these mobile devices should make us rethink the transformative power behind all those tiny little speakers in our students' ears." (tags mobile_web_access ipad instructional_technology)
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Monterey College of Law Pilots iPad Programs for Students and Faculty -- Campus Technology Reason for the experiment: "Many of our law students work the equivalent of three jobs. Between law school, work, and family, it is a constant challenge for them to set aside enough time during the week to study," said Wendy LaRiviere, dean of admissions, in a written statement issued today. "...[T]he iPad will provide time-challenged students an easy way to add 30 to 45 minutes of studying each day ... during a lunch break, waiting in the car-pool line, or even getting their oil changed. The result will be an additional three to five hours per week of valuable study time. If our students use this 'found' time to do additional reading and incorporate a more extensive use of their class notes, study guides, and practice exams, we expect to see a positive result in law school performance and continued improvement in the bar pass rates of our graduates." (tags: ipad instructional_technology mobile_web_access apps)
Recent Social Media Web Bookmarks
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Why Do You Retweet? | Social Media Today Practical reasons for retweeting other people's Twitter messages. Social media is about interaction, conversation, and synergy. When retweeting, add a short comment to add value to the retweet and establish your own expertise with the topic.(tags: Twitter social_media)
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57 Social Media Policy Examples and Resources | Social Media Today Wonderful collection of how social media is managed and used at nearly 60 organizations. Their experiences provides a roadmap of things to do and not do with a new organization strategy for use of social media. (tags: social_media social_media_policies)
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5 Lecturecasting Tools That I Can't Live Without (and Why) - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education I use ScreenFlow to record my class lectures through my laptop. It does a wonderful job of capturing the PowerPoint slides, video clips, and my voice. I use an inexpensive Radio Shack wireless microphone (about $50) and then post the Quicktime movie to the course management system. it requires student password to enter and view the video. Students report average to high satisfaction with the process. One student even commented that they liked it better than listening to me since they felt comfortable in stopping the lecture any time they want, rewinding, and watching again. Now that is what you call "remote control" over the lecture. :-) (tags: screen_capture lecture_capturing instructional_technology)
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Teaching with Omeka - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education A sophisticated online software program for creating digital projects by individuals or groups. (tags: Omeka digital_storytelling collaboration_tools)
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News: Web Re(design) - Inside Higher Ed The basic issue is making web pages friendly for the consumers and not only for the web page designers and those at the institution that give direction to the designers. Reminds me of need for focus groups of potential users to guide the web page design. (tags: web_pages web_page_design)
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Mass Video Courses May Free Up Professors for Personalized Teaching - Technology - The Chronicle of Higher Education I have often thought about separating out the sections of my class sessions that are lecture-focused and placing them online, while reserving the class time for more intense interaction among students and with me. Good ideas in this article. (tags: instructional_technology video_courses personalized_teaching)
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Ask a question on society.me A new service that can be used to establish credibility of a person with a specific content area. It is a form of social networking (a la LinkedIn) that brings together people with questions and those with answers. (tags: Society, Ask_me_anything social_media)
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Using Data to Inform College Access Programming in the 21st Century High School (Using DICAP) | data.ed.gov This is the I3 grant funded for the Council on Opportunity in Education. It focuses on use of data to improve programs and decision making leading to higher college stuccess rates. (tags: I3 COE data_driven_decision-making grants)
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University of Minnesota Mail - Announcing ChimeIn Created by Colin McFadden and team at the University of Minnestoa, Chimeln is a clicker system that uses mobile devices (smartphones, iPads) as a class response system. Check out the video tutorial (tags: Chimeln classroom_clickers student_response_system)
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Simple, Powerful Uses for Google Books - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education Great suggestions for using Google Books both for personal research as well as replacement or supplement of free books for students in classes. (tags: Google_books Google)
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Managing Twitter Favorites - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education Very practical suggestions for identifying and sharing favorite Tweets. I create a "badge" through Twitter and then embed into a web page where I display my favorited Tweets. Nice way to share with others as well as save for my future use. (tags: Twitter social_media)
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Top 10 Sites for Creating Surveys Great free sites for creating surveys. Some of the sites provide enhanced services for a monthly fee. SurveyMonkey is one of the ten. (tags: online_surveys apps)
Apps for the iPad to Improve Student Learning
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I have been using an iPad since they first came out last spring. I find it to be an amazing device, partically due to my need for an enhanced text reader and also for the endless number of free or inexpensive apps that can be downloaded and used on it. Following is an article from the Chronicle that illustrates five of the author's favorites. With more than 250,000 currently available through the Apple iTunes store, it must have been a difficult choice. 5 iPad Applications I Can't Live Without (and Why) - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education (tags: ipad instructional_technology apps)
Teaching with Twitter
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I plan to use Twitter within my introductory world history class this fall. My plan is to make it an optional enrichment channel for students. I will use it initially for sharing links to interesting, relevant articles on the web related to the current history topic in class. Later in the term I may use it as an informal feedback loop for class activities. Following is an interesting article from the Chronicle on using Twitter. A Framework for Teaching with Twitter - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education Excellent conceptual article on the possibioities for teaching with Twitter. Especially helpful is the matrix box that explores the levels of interactivity by students and the depth of the content. Highly recommended. (tags: Twitter instructional_technology teaching_and_learning backchannel_communication)
Teaching with iPads
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Many institutions at the secondary and postsecondary level are experimenting with iPads this fall. Following is a web link to one example. North Adams Public Schools District will tap iPad for learning - Berkshire Eagle Online (tags: ipad Evaluation_Research high_school)
Closing Opportunity in Another Urban College
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Another example of major public universities turning their backs on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Sorry, you are not welcome here anymore is devastating for the individual, their family, employers that need skilled employees, and the rest of us in society.