Searching for "school board"

04
Mar
2016

Code for Humanity

categories: digital citizenship, Digital literacy, educational technology, information technology, instructional technology, Millennials, student-centered learning, technology literacy

Santa Clara U Students Code for Humanity

come up with apps to help two organizations serving the poorest people. Santa Clara University’s Association for Computing Machinery chapter held its third annual hackathon, “Hack for Humanity.”

The 24-hour event brought together participants from area colleges studying not just computer science or engineering but also business, biotech, communications and graphic design. Students worked individually or in teams of four to develop applications for either of two recipients.

One is Catholic Charities, where coders were encouraged to improve one of its many services and programs for “very low income people.” For example, the students could come up with apps for improving the organization’s existing job skills training, immigration test training or nutrition information programs.

The other is VillageTech, a company that has created Looma, a low-power, affordable portable computer and projector box for classroom use in schools in developing countries. There, the hackers are supposed to come up with apps for use by students in Nepal, such as creating a content management and navigation system, to build an on-screen keyboard, to add to the maps available for Looma, to improve the speech capability, to create a tool for managing the webcam and related functions.

13
Jan
2016

Formative Assessment Tools

categories: assessment, Digital literacy, instructional technology, student-centered learning

Fantastic Formative Assessment Tools that Give Great Feedback

Use these tech tools to boost engagement while also getting great feedback about what your students know.

March 26, 2014 Jeff Knutson
Infuse Learning
Infuse Learning is a tablet-based student response system for learning through conversation and collaboration. Teachers can build assessments and track students’ responses. The drawing-response tool (for sketches and diagrams) is a powerful feature here. Also, there’s native-language support for English learners. Read full review.
Kahoot
Kahoot is a game-based classroom response system. Teachers can create quizzes using content from the web. Questions appear on a class screen; without needing an account, students answer in real-time on a mobile device. Kahoot is different in that it creates an engaging competition. Students can also create their own quizzes and assessments. Read full review.
Socrative
Socrative is a student response system with a variety of activities: quizzes, assessments, games, and even exit notes. Teachers control the flow of exercises; students respond in real time. It generates reports to help teachers track learning over time. Read full review.
Turnitin
Turnitin is mostly a tool for promoting originality in students’ writing (or catching plagiarism). However, it’s also a tool to support the writing process — from teacher feedback and grading to peer evaluation and review. There’s also a handy discussion forum feature, with built-in moderation. Read full review.
Poll Everywhere
Poll Everywhere isn’t just for schools, but works well as a classroom response system. Students can respond via text message, Twitter, or a Web browser; teachers can project the results on the Web, or in a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. Read full review.
TodaysMeet
TodaysMeet is a backchannel to help an audience and presenter connect in real time. Like a closed version of Twitter, posts are limited to 140 characters. Teachers can offer students a live stream for discussion, addressing issues on-the-spot, or as an after-lecture reflective activity. Read full review.
Backchannel Chat
Backchannel Chat is just for educational use. Students don’t have to enter any personal information into the system, and teachers can save, search, and archive discussions. Teachers also get a lot of control with customizable moderation options, a room-locking feature, and filtering for unwelcome content. Read full review.
GoSoapBox
is a student response system offering teachers more than a standard quiz/poll tool. The social Q&A feature allows students to vote the most relevant questions to the top, and a “Confusion Barometer” tool lets teachers track understanding throughout a lesson. Read full review.
Blendspace
Blendspace allows teachers to collect resources from the web and create a customizable, blended-instruction experience for students. Formative assessment tools are built in, allowing multiple question types, and the ability to track students’ progress over time. Read full review.
Collaborize Classroom
Collaborize Classroom allows teachers to create an online classroom community for learning — a home-base for online discussion forums, polls, assessments, and student-driven projects. There are differentiation tools and customized learning opportunities for individuals and small groups. Read full review.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Class Quiz Games with Quizizz (an Alternative to Kahoot)

Quizizz is an alternative to Kahoot, and there’s also a lot for educators to like. It is very similar to Kahoot, with a few key differences.

Just like Kahoot, the teacher (or student host) chooses a quiz to begin. A five digit game code is provided. Players point their browsers to join.quizzizz.com and input the game code, along with their names. If players are using smartphones or tablets, I display the join link as a QR code.

Quizizz takes a different approach. No projector is necessary becauseplayers see questions and answer options on their own screens. The question order is randomized for each student, so it’s no easy for players to cheat. With Quizizz, players don’t have to wait for the whole class to answer a question before they continue to the next one.

So, Quizizz is player-paced while Kahoot’s pace is determined by the teacher or host. This is the major difference and can be a benefit or a drawback. If you want to pause after each question, then Kahoot is better. The class can stop and discuss after each question, immediately addressing misconceptions. With Quizizz, players zip through questions at their own pace, limiting all discussion to after all questions have been answered.

13
Oct
2015

big data

categories: Digital literacy, information technology, instructional technology, learning, online learning, technology, technology literacy

big-data-in-education-report

Center for Digital Education (CDE)

real-time impact on curriculum structure, instruction delivery and student learning, permitting change and improvement. It can also provide insight into important trends that affect present and future resource needs.

Big Data: Traditionally described as high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information.
Learning or Data Analytics: The measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs.
Educational Data Mining: The techniques, tools and research designed for automatically extracting meaning from large repositories of data generated by or related to people’s learning activities in educational settings.
Predictive Analytics: Algorithms that help analysts predict behavior or events based on data.
Predictive Modeling: The process of creating, testing and validating a model to best predict the probability of an outcome.

Data analytics, or the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data, is driving decisionmaking in many institutions. However, because of the unique nature of each district’s or college’s data needs, many are building their own solutions.

For example, in 2014 the nonprofit company inBloom, Inc., backed by $100 million from the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, closed its doors amid controversy regarding its plan to store, clean and aggregate a range of student information for states and districts and then make the data available to district-approved third parties to develop tools and dashboards so the data could be used by classroom educators.22

Tips for Student Data Privacy

Know the Laws and Regulations
There are many regulations on the books intended to protect student privacy and safety: the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
— as well as state, district and community laws. Because technology changes so rapidly, it is unlikely laws and regulations will keep pace with new data protection needs. Establish a committee to ascertain your institution’s level of understanding of and compliance with these laws, along with additional safeguard measures.
Make a Checklist Your institution’s privacy policies should cover security, user safety, communications, social media, access, identification rules, and intrusion detection and prevention.
Include Experts
To nail down compliance and stave off liability issues, consider tapping those who protect privacy for a living, such as your school attorney, IT professionals and security assessment vendors. Let them review your campus or district technologies as well as devices brought to campus by students, staff and instructors. Finally, a review of your privacy and security policies, terms of use and contract language is a good idea.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Students, staff, faculty and parents all need to know their rights and responsibilities regarding data privacy. Convey your technology plans, policies and requirements and then assess and re-communicate those throughout each year.

“Anything-as-a-Service” or “X-as-a-Service” solutions can help K-12 and higher education institutions cope with big data by offering storage, analytics capabilities and more. These include:
• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): Providers offer cloud-based storage, similar to a campus storage area network (SAN)

• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): Opens up application platforms — as opposed to the applications themselves — so others can build their own applications
using underlying operating systems, data models and databases; pre-built application components and interfaces

• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): The hosting of applications in the cloud

• Big-Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS): Mix all the above together, upscale the amount of data involved by an enormous amount and you’ve got BDaaS

Suggestions:

Use accurate data correctly
Define goals and develop metrics
Eliminate silos, integrate data
Remember, intelligence is the goal
Maintain a robust, supportive enterprise infrastructure.
Prioritize student privacy
Develop bullet-proof data governance guidelines
Create a culture of collaboration and sharing, not compliance.

more on big data in this IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=big+data&submit=Search

30
Sep
2015

e-conferencing tools

categories: Bring Your Own Device BYOD, distance learning, distributive learning, e-learning, educational technology, instructional technology, mobile learning

LITA and The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group have a discussion regarding e-conferencing tools (online meeting tools) and browser problems related to them:

BlackBoard Collaborate: https://youtu.be/UWX2kRazC-s has difficulties working on Google Chrome and Windows 10 Edge browser, since they not support Java.

WebEx, Canva. Adobe Connect, Zoom, Ultra

From: lita-l-request@lists.ala.org [mailto:lita-l-request@lists.ala.org] On Behalf Of Tyckoson, Mary Ellen
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2015 9:51 AM
To: lita-l@lists.ala.org
Subject: RE: [lita-l] Free teleconferencing options?

We’ve been using https://www.freeconferencecall.com/ for years.  It offers a record feature that allows you to download the call later as well as a report of the numbers that called in and the duration of their connection to the conference.  Generally the call clarity is pretty good.  The only time we had a problem seemed to be on the end user’s side.  I think they also offer some free online meeting services, but we’ve never used those.  The down side if that they are able to offer it for free because they are toll calls (usually to some number in a sparsely populated area – at least one of the numbers we use is out in the Mojave desert.)

Regards,

Mary Ellen

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Mary Ellen Tyckoson

Library Program Manager

San Joaquin Valley Library System

2420 Mariposa St, Fresno, CA 93721

559-600-6285

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of J. Patrick Whitaker
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 2:09 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

 

We have Ultra available – albeit in a “not quite ready for prime time” format (i.e. no recording, polling, etc.). We can assign it by course so some faculty are using Ultra for office hours. It’s much easier for students in particular.

  1. Patrick Whitaker, PhD

Associate Professor, Assistant Coordinator,

Center for Distance Learning

  1. Sargeant Reynolds Community College

PO BOX 85622

Richmond, Virginia 23285-5622

804-523-5612

“Education is what people do to you; Learning is what you do to yourself” – Joi Ito

From: The EDUCAUSE Bended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Doug Kahn
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 3:06 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

We were told the release will come mid-semester and because we are in a system-wide environment shared by over 50 campuses, we will go at that time.  I would much prefer to do it in January.

From: Scott Robison <sarobison@MAIL.PLYMOUTH.EDU>
Reply-To: EDUCAUSE Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at 3:01 PM
To: EDUCAUSE Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

I have seen Collaborate Ultra (briefly) and agree it is completely different (in a good way). Last spring I was told by our account exec that it would be available to us beginning of fall. Haven’t heard anything yet and I’m not holding my breath…  😉

Scott  Scott Robison, Ph.D.
Director, Learning Technologies and Online Education

Co-Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Plymouth State University

Plymouth, NH
603.535.2262

“All courses are online courses; it’s just a matter of
how much time you meet face-to-face.”

 

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Covello, Steve
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 2:42 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

 

One thing to consider with Bb Collaborate is that, since it is Java driven, there may be problems for users whose browsers no long support Java (Chrome, for one, and I think Windows 10 Edge browser too?).

 

https://java.com/en/download/faq/chrome.xml

 

“Java applications are offered though web browsers as either a web start application (which do not interact with the browser once they are launched) or as a Java applet (which might interact with the browser). This change does not affect Web Start applications, it only impacts applets.”

This is not a deal breaker because BbC doesn’t run in a browser (it just downloads the starter app). But the subsequent error message could throw some participants off.

There is a an HTML5 version in the works, I hear (haven’t seen it yet). But keep the Java aspect in mind, as it appears to me at least (FWIW) that Java is the new Flash — moving towards disfavor due to potential security issues.

Thx – Steve — Steve Covello

Rich Media Specialist/Instructional Designer/Online Instructor

Chalk & Wire e-Portfolio Administrator

Granite State College

603-513-1346

Skype: steve.granitestate

Scheduling: http://meetme.so/stevecovello

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> on behalf of Doug Kahn <kahnd@SUNYSUFFOLK.EDU>
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 2:29 PM
To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

At SCCC we have gone with Collaborate – largely due to integration to Blackboard Learn and the excellent pricing the SUNY system received.  The interface isn’t the most intuitive for presenters, but works well enough.  We recently saw Collaborate Ultra which will be launched this fall.  The interface was ‘zoomed’ for lack of a better term.  It is a huge improvement, extremely intuitive and performs significantly better.  That with the Blackboard Learn integration makes any thought of looking elsewhere a non-starter for us.

Regards, Doug —— Doug Kahn

College Assistant Dean for Instructional Technology

Huntington Library – L10

Suffolk County Community College

533 College Road

Selden, NY 11784

631-451-4575

kahnd@sunysuffolk.edu

 

 

From: <Liu>, Christie – liujc <liujc@JMU.EDU>
Reply-To: EDUCAUSE Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 at 2:08 PM
To: EDUCAUSE Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

Hello,

We are providing a sandbox type of immersive program for faculty here to explore features of different web conferencing tools. Any information about integration of Training Center in WebEx to Canvas will be greatly appreciated.

Christie

========================
Juhong Christie Liu, Ph.D.

Senior Instructional Designer
Center for Instructional Technology
James Madison University
540.568.2381

********************************************************

“We become ourselves through others.” —Vygotsky

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> on behalf of “Akter, Nafiza” <nafiza@NJIT.EDU>
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 8:59 AM
To: “BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU” <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

Currently, NJIT uses WebEx and I used Adobe Connect at a different institution; we have WebEx set up so that instructors can create their own sessions as they find the need. They are both robust but have their own quirks to them. Adobe Connect had a big learning curve for instructors. WebEx seems a bit simpler just to start but I feel like it has more audio issues when you do VOIP; it’s also very confusing for our users because you have to click on a button after you log into WebEx to turn audio on. That goes for everyone–presenter and participant, no one can hear or be heard until this is done. Even users that have done this for a while sometimes forget this part–I’d say that’s the biggest quirk about it.

I have seen a lot of use of Zoom recently, but I don’t know if it is quite as robust or permits you to do as long or large of a session as WebEx would.

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Barbara Anderson <banderson17@roosevelt.edu> wrote:

Our university is trying to determine which would be the best online meeting/class tool. We have narrowed our search down to Webex and Zoom. I was wondering if anyone, who is currently using these two tools, could give me some pros and cons for their use.

Thanks,

Barbara Anderson Ed.D.

Sr. Academic Technology Specialist

Roosevelt University

430 S. Michigan Ave, Room 380

Chicago, IL 60605

312-341-2061

Join.me is another great, free option, which also can be used for web conferencing in case you need to share a presentation.

See: https://www.join.me, https://www.join.me/solutions/free-conference-call.

Thanks,

Darlene Davis
Digital Asset Coordinator
Alliance Life Sciences Consulting Group

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Rob Abel
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 7:23 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

Ed, et al-

We recently learned about an LTI integration for Connect from eSyncTraining.  It is not yet certified LTI – but quite slick – and eSyncTraining recently joined IMS to get it certified.

https://www.esynctraining.com

 

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Ed Garay
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 7:12 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

 

The feedback has been mixed. Some faculty like it, others hate it. Personally, I am disappointed that the java-less version is still elusive, that the LMS integration, albeit certified LTI, is not smart enough for my demanding taste, and that UIC was never able to really effectively and easily use it for non-Teaching & Learning applications. Elluminate Live! and Blackboard Inc. both knew we needed it also as a GoToMeeting-kind of solution, and they never delivered on that. (We had run Saba Centra Web Conferencing for many years before most of these tools ever existed)

My personal recommendation, today, would be to seriously evaluate Adobe Connect (again) and Zoom, …as long as they have an IMS Global-certified LTI integration.

—
— Ed Garay
University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC School of Public Health
http://www.twitter.com/garay

Academic Technologies Twitter stream by a curated list of 1,200+ HigherEd IT, e-Learning & EdTech colleagues and selected vendors: http://twitter.com/garay/academic-technologies

From: Scott Robison
Sent: ‎10/‎15/‎2015 3:35 PM
To: Edward Garay
Subject: RE: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

Ed,

How has the feedback been with Collaborate? We started using it a couple years ago too. There was more excitement for it then than there is now. There have been browser and Java issues and some find it too clunky, quality lacking (audio/video), and for many it is more than they need (or think they need). We are working on getting Collaborate Ultra integrated into Moodle. It is pretty sharp (web-based, clean, but fewer features at the moment). Are you using that, and if so, what do folks think?

Thanks,  Scott Scott Robison, Ph.D.
Director, Learning Technologies and Online Education

Co-Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Plymouth State University

Plymouth, NH
603.535.2262

“All courses are online courses; it’s just a matter of
how much time you meet face-to-face.”

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Edward Garay
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 4:03 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

I always liked Adobe Connect and thought it was easy to use by faculty, staff and students. We almost got it, a few years ago, but the committee picked up Blackboard Collaborate because it was more Teaching & Learning-friendly, which it was/is.

It would have helped if Adobe had invested in developing an LTI-compliant  LMS integration for Connect.  They still haven’t, unfortunately, certified or otherwise, I am afraid.
—
— Ed Garay
University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC School of Public Health
http://www.twitter.com/garay

Academic Technologies Twitter stream by a curated list of 1,200+ HigherEd IT, e-Learning & EdTech colleagues and selected vendors: http://twitter.com/garay/academic-technologies

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 11:25 AM -0700, “Snyder, Matthew” <matthew.snyder@yale.edu> wrote:

Our primary online meeting tool is Adobe Connect, but we have been using Zoom for a year as well. The feedback we receive is that Adobe Connect is very “feature rich” and somewhat difficult to use at times, especially for individuals who simply want an easy web collaboration tool. Although some have become very comfortable with Adobe Connect and utilize many of the features and pods, it may be a bit complicated and confusing to use at times.

We have been using Zoom and although it does not have as many of the features as Adobe Connect, the quality is great and it’s easy to use. Zoom offers basic and pro accounts, as well as different meeting room options, SIP, VoIP, etc..

Best,

Matthew Snyder

Collaboration Technology Specialist

Yale Center For Teaching and Learning

w: 203.436.8427

m: 203.687.5819

http://ctl.yale.edu

http://zoom.us/my/matthewsnyder

http://greet.yale.edu/msmtg

From: “Curbeam, Dionne” <DCurbeam@COPPIN.EDU>
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2015 18:35:47 +0000
To: <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

Hello.  I am curious how many are using Microsoft Lync online meeting/class tool.  If so, what has been your experience?

Thanks!Dionne N. Curbeam, Director

Instructional Technology & Training

Coppin State University

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Liu, Christie – liujc
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 2:08 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

Hello,

We are providing a sandbox type of immersive program for faculty here to explore features of different web conferencing tools. Any information about integration of Training Center in

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Ed Garay
Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 2:55 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

 

Please note that there are IMS-certified LTI tools and other “rogue” LTI tools that are not certified. The certified LTI tools go through a rigorous IMS process to ensure they are fully LTI-compliant. We should strive to use certified LTI LMS add-one, exclusively, and require/demand that vendors and individual developers  of tools not certified be reprogram to meet full IMS LTI certification.

The IMS Certified LTI Tools catalog currently lists only Blackboard Collaborate and BigBlueButton, i.e. not Zoom, Adobe Connect, WebEX, GoToMeeting, etc. – http://developers.imsglobal.org/catalog.html

The Edu App Center, maintained by Instructure, purports to list certified and uncertified LTI tools. Adobe Connect (for Canvas, I believe) is listed (sans the LMS certification); I cannot find any listing of Zoom, however. – https://www.eduappcenter.com/

I am CCing Rob Abel, CEO at IMS Global, in case he’d like to chime in on the LTI certification or lack thereof.

— Ed Garay
University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC School of Public Health
twitter.com/garay

 

“We become ourselves through others.” —Vygotsky

 

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> on behalf of “Akter, Nafiza” <nafiza@NJIT.EDU>
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 8:59 AM
To: “BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU” <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Online meeting tools

 

Currently, NJIT uses WebEx and I used Adobe Connect at a different institution; we have WebEx set up so that instructors can create their own sessions as they find the need. They are both robust but have their own quirks to them. Adobe Connect had a big learning curve for instructors. WebEx seems a bit simpler just to start but I feel like it has more audio issues when you do VOIP; it’s also very confusing for our users because you have to click on a button after you log into WebEx to turn audio on. That goes for everyone–presenter and participant, no one can hear or be heard until this is done. Even users that have done this for a while sometimes forget this part–I’d say that’s the biggest quirk about it.

 

I have seen a lot of use of Zoom recently, but I don’t know if it is quite as robust or permits you to do as long or large of a session as WebEx would.

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Barbara Anderson <banderson17@roosevelt.edu> wrote:

Our university is trying to determine which would be the best online meeting/class tool. We have narrowed our search down to Webex and Zoom. I was wondering if anyone, who is currently using these two tools, could give me some pros and cons for their use.

Thanks,

Barbara Anderson Ed.D.

Sr. Academic Technology Specialist

Roosevelt University

430 S. Michigan Ave, Room 380

Chicago, IL 60605

312-341-2061

 

********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.

—

Nafiza Akter

Instructional Designer

Instructional Technology & Media Services (ITMS)
New Jersey Institute of Technology

e-mail: nafiza@njit.edu

phone: 973-596-7050

 

 

 

 

24
Aug
2015

the future of LMS

categories: Desire2Learn (D2L)

Blackboard loses high-profile clients as its rivals school it in innovation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/blackboard-loses-high-profile-clients-as-students-gripe-about-its-design/2015/08/21/1fd91708-4511-11e5-8e7d-9c033e6745d8_story.html

My note: if this is going on with BB, imagine what is the issue with D2L.

competitors emerged that were more difficult to ignore. Firms such as Instructure and Sakai attempted to separate themselves from Blackboard by focusing on customizing their software for clients and providing extensive daily maintenance.

As rivals gained traction, Blackboard’s grip on the market began to slip. Some companies relied on open-source software that made them more nimble. Blackboard didn’t adopt it until 2012. Student and faculty complaints about the software also took on new life.

“Blackboard will be the death of me,” wrote one student on Tumblr a year ago.

“Why is everything so counter-intuitive?” said one professor on an online forum at the Chronicle of Higher Education. “Why do you have to click a million times just to do a simple task?”

the company has struggled to find technology that will appeal to all students and professors

It is focused on expanding its reach in K-12 institutions to broaden the market, Blot said, and is diving into the world of mobile apps.

30
May
2015

grants for games

categories: gamification, gaming, mobile learning

Jumpstarting Innovation in Education Technology through SBIR

http://ies.ed.gov/blogs/research/post/Jumpstarting-Innovation

The U.S. Department of Education’s Small Business Innovation Research program, operated out of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), funds projects to develop education technology products designed to support student learning and teacher practice in general or special education.

Recently, ED/IES SBIR announced its 2015 awards. There are 21 awards in all, covering a range of topics and forms of technology. For example, Zaption is designing a mobile app to help teachers integrate video into science instruction; Speak Agent is building an app to help students with speech disabilities to communicate; and Lingo Jingo is developing a platform to help teachers guide English learners. (To view short video demos of the eight new Phase II projects, see this playlist.)

The 2015 awards highlight two trends that have emerged in the ED/IES SBIR portfolio in recent years –games for learning and bridging the research-to-practice gap in education.

Trend #1: Games for Learning

  • Strange Loop Games to build a virtual world to engage students in learning about ecosystems,
  • Kiko Labs to develop mini games to strengthen young children’s thinking and memory skills, and
  • Schell Games to create a futuristic “ball and stick” molecular modeling kit and app to augment chemistry learning.

For a playlist including videos of these games and 19 others out of the ED/IES SBIR program, see here.

The games for learning trend echoes the movement surrounding games in the field, and is highlighted by recent ED sponsored events including ED Games Week in Washington, DC, last September and the Games for Learning Summit in New York City, in April. Both events convened stakeholders to showcase games and discuss the potential barriers and opportunities for collaboration necessary to accelerate the creation of highly effective games for learning. Stay tuned for more information and initiatives on games for learning out of ED’s Office of Technology.

Trend #2: Bridging the Research-to-Practice Gap

  • Mindset Works, which built on results from prior research including a 2002 IES research grant, to successfully propose a 2010 ED/IES SBIR project to develop SchoolKit. This multimedia platform enables broad distribution of the growth mindset intervention which teaches students to understand that intelligence can be developed through effort and learning. SchoolKit is now in use in more than 500 schools across the country, including half the middle schools in Washington, DC.
  • Teachley, which received a 2013 ED/IES SBIR award to develop math game apps and a teacher implementation dashboard building on findings from prior research including a 2010 IES research grant. The intervention is now used in hundreds of schools around the country, and the apps have been downloaded more than 500,000 times.
  • Learning Ovations is building on two prior IES research grants in their 2014 ED/IES SBIR project. The prior IES funding supported the research team as they developed and evaluated an intervention to improve children’s reading outcomes,. This award is supporting the development of an implementation platform to enable large-scale use of this evidence-based intervention across settings. The project is scheduled to end in 2016, after which the platform will be launched.

The new ED/IES SBIR 2015 awards continue the research-to-practice trend. An award to Foundations in Learning furthers basic research from a 2013 National Science Foundation grant (NSF); an award to SimInsights builds on 2005 and 2008 IES research projects and a 2011 Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) research project; and an award to Apprendris advances a prior 2012 IES research project and  prior 2010 and 2013 NSF research projects.

More on Zaption in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=zaption

More on games and gamification in this blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=games

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=gamification

09
Apr
2015

LMS as a concept under scrutiny

categories: Desire2Learn (D2L), technology, technology literacy

A Blend-Online listserv thread regarding the choice of LMS and the future of LMS

Schoology HEd – Digital Learning Ecosystem (March 2015) (PDF document)

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Tousignant
Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2015 1:41 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection

I’ve been reviewing this thread and thought I’d introduce a new player… Schoology is getting the attention of the analyst community and gobbling up the SIIA Codie awards for best learning platform the last couple of years.  (Please note, I am not an impartial observer and I do a horse in the race)

The attached document includes information that will explain a new paradigm for evaluating an LMS that we see being adopted more and more  – a move from a focus on utility (features and functions) to one focused standards, interoperability and the user experience (UI/UX).

Feel free to reach out directly if I can be of assistance.

Robert Tousignant

Sr. Director

Schoology Higher Education

O:  (212)213-8333 x69

M: (617)838-1366

rtousignant@schoology.com

Colorado State University’s Global Campus Announces Strategic Partnership with Schoology

From: Edward Garay <garay@UIC.EDU>
Reply-To: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 2:27 PM
To: “BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU” <BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection

These days, I tend to favor LMS Review/Selection initiatives that take one to two years to complete, but as always, it depends on the institution, its readiness to spec the needs of their faculty/students and evaluate viable options, as well as the campus resources available to nurture a possible smooth LMS platform transition. I like pointing out to the well-executed recent LMS selection initiatives carried out by UCF, Northwestern, Indiana, Harvard and Dartmouth, although there are many others.

I am also fond of Educause Review 2014 article on Selecting a Learning Management System: Advice from an Academic Perspective available at http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/selecting-learning-management-system-advice-academic-perspective

 

—
— Ed Garay
University of Illinois at Chicago
UIC School of Public Health
http://www.twitter.com/garay

*** Attend the FACULTY SUMMER INSTITUTE :: Wed-Fri May 27-29 at Urbana-Champaign
#pedagogy #BlendedLearning #classroom #teaching #OnlineLearning #EdTech
http://go.illinois.edu/facultysummerinstitute

 

_____________________________
From: Hap Aziz <hapaziz@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 9, 2015 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection
To: <blend-online@listserv.educause.edu>
That’s sounds like a similar timeframe to what we had at UB when we moved from Blackboard to Canvas. While LTI didn’t not play a large role in the decision-making process as we changed our LMS, it is now a central consideration as we look to acquire any new app functionality for our learning environment.

 

I’m setting up an area in the IMS forum area for LTI policy discussion. I’ll share that location with the group shortly so we can take some of the in-the-weeds discussion offline here.

 

Hap Aziz

Associate Vice President

University of Bridgeport

http://bridgeport.edu

 

Connected Learning Innovation Community

IMS Global Learning Consortium

http://imsglobal.org

 

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 3:25 PM, Sam Bachert <BachertS@sanjuancollege.edu> wrote:

Hap,

 

The selection process started in January of 2013 and the task force voted at the end of May of 2013 unanimously for Canvas so about 5 months.  By October we started training faculty in preparation for the Spring 2014 semester what was amazing about our transition to Canvas was that we had everyone moved out of ANGEL by start of Summer 14 so we only had 1 semester where we were supporting both ANGEL and Canvas.  The use of LTI integrations and Canvas makes our jobs a lot easier to support the various tools that faculty are adopting for their classes – it also makes it a lot easier for faculty to integrate other technologies and keep them in the LMS or have single sign on so it is more seamless for students.

 

Thanks, Sam

 

Samuel R. Bachert

Manager, Online Services

 

ellucian®

San Juan College

4601 College Boulevard

Farmington, NM 87402

Voice: 505.566.3310 Mobile: 505.609.0573 Fax: 505.566.3570

bacherts@sanjuancollege.edu * samuel.bachert@ellucian.com

http://www.ellucian.com

Follow us:

CONFIDENTIALITY: This email (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email from your system. Thank you.

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Hap Aziz
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 7:09 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: Re: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection

Hey, Sam, long time no see! Do you know about how long your whole selection process took? Also, does LTI conformance make your job with academic technology more straightforward to deal with?

Hap Aziz

Associate Vice President

University of Bridgeport

http://bridgeport.edu

Connected Learning Innovation Community

IMS Global Learning Consortium

http://imsglobal.org

On Thu, Apr 2, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Sam Bachert <BachertS@sanjuancollege.edu> wrote:

JeJe,

I am at San Juan College and we also recently went through the selection process for a new LMS and like others who have commented switched to Canvas (from ANGEL).  We ended up with a selection team that was primarily faculty, a couple students, and a handful of technology staff that reviewed the various LMSs and then made our final decision.  If you would like I can get you the contact information for the faculty who assisted on the selection team.

Thanks,

Sam

Samuel R. Bachert

Director of Academic Technology

ellucian®

San Juan College

4601 College Boulevard

Farmington, NM 87402

Voice: 505.566.3310 Mobile: 505.609.0573 Fax: 505.566.3570

bacherts@sanjuancollege.edu * samuel.bachert@ellucian.com

http://www.ellucian.com

Follow us:

CONFIDENTIALITY: This email (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email from your system. Thank you.

From: The EDUCAUSE Blended and Online Learning Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU] On Behalf Of Noval, JeJe (LLU)
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2015 9:25 PM
To: BLEND-ONLINE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU
Subject: [BLEND-ONLINE] Faculty Involvement in LMS Selection

 

Hello Colleagues,

Were any of you, faculty members, involved in the learning management selection process of your educational institution?  If so, would it be possible to interview you in the future for a research study?

Best,

JeJe Noval, MS, RD
Assistant Professor
Loma Linda University

 

17
Nov
2014

Never Work Harder Than Your Students…

categories: teaching, technology

Never Work Harder Than Your Students… Use Technology

http://www.rundesroom.com/2011/07/never-work-harder-than-your-students.html

some_text

1)  Start Where Your Students Are …
2)  Know Where Your Students Are Going …
3)  Expect Students To Get To Their Goals
4)  Support Students Along The Way
http://www.transl8it.com – (English to text lingo conversion – I blogged about this last night – see my post below).
Google Translate – Language translation – spells it (correctly and phonetically), and says it.
Skype – great for author conferences, social studies (talk to people in other countries), keep a student connected who has been absent, or is away on a trip.
https://posterous.com/ – easy way to create your own blog through your email – great for setting up a class blog to keep students / parents informed.
5)  Use Feedback
edmodo.com – It’s almost like a kind of facebook – but you can set it up for your classroom – post questions, reading clubs, etc. and give feedback to students as they answer questions.
ed.voicethread.com
https://docs.google.com – Students can use this for their writing assignments, and not worry about bringing files back and forth to school.  Teachers have access to the page to make corrections / give feedback throughout the writing process.
6)  Focus on Quality Rather Than Quantity
edu.glogster.com – I’ve set up an account with glogster so we can make multi-media posters next year.  I can so see myself using this with science / social studies.
http://www.animoto.com/education – A site for making movies and slideshows.
photopeach.com/education – Another site for making movies and slideshows.
http://www.jaycut.com – Yet another site for making movies and slideshows – this one looks like it has a few more features (like slow-motion).
blabberize.com – Bring your still pictures to life by making them talk – I can so see myself using this next year with my SMARTboard lessons!  Wouldn’t it be cool to make a fraction talk and explain how to do a concept during a math lesson?!?
http://www.wikispaces.com – I am definitely going to investigate this one further.  I’d like to make a wiki for one of my science units next year – assigning students a different part or concept, and then putting it all together.  We could even print off the pages later and turn them into our own reference book.
livebinder.com – A lot of the teachers at the webinar talked about how they would use this resource to set up student portfolios … hmmmmm … intriguing.
epubbud.com – Students can create their own ebooks (which other people can access) and display them on a shelf (similar in looks to shelfari).  A great way to publish their writing, and make the writing process more authentic for them.
http://www.prezi.com – Another multi-media site great for presentations.  Use as an introduction to a new unit, or have students create their own presentations for a certain topic.

7)  Never Work Harder Than Your Students

22
Jun
2014

BYOD toolchest: 51 teaching and learning tools for mobile devices

categories: course capture screencast, Digital literacy, instructional technology, learning

The Epic BYOD Toolchest (51 Tools You Can Use Now)

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/the-epic-byod-toolchest-vicki-davis

Formative Assessment

Screencasting and Capturing What Happens in Class

Content-Sharing Platforms

  • Sophia: Nudged along by my friend Todd Nesloney, I use Sophia for my computer applications instruction and am very pleased with the results.
  • Haiku Learning: This is the full content management system that I’m trying to get our school to adopt. It’s multiplatform and robust, which makes it a great fit for our BYOD environment.

There are many other apps like Moodle, Canvas, and Coursesites. The point is that you should have one in a BYOD environment.

Assessment Aids

All three of these apps — Quick Key, Grade Ninja, and WISE — are available on iTunes and Google Play, but there are more.

Electronic Note Taking

Expression

Students need multiple ways to share and express themselves, particularly verbally and with pictures. This is part of transliteracy.

Cloud Syncing

Graphic Design and Infographics

Color Selection

Presentations

Blogging

Written Expression

Link Sharing

More  (from the blog section)

If you’re working with multiple apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, One Drive, Evernote and need to search across them in one shot, take a look at Xendo (http://xen.do) – gives you a personal, private Google-like search across all your apps.

8 Interactive Video Tools for Engaging Learners

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-interactive-video-tools-resources

20
Jun
2014

7 Free Social Media Tools for Teachers

categories: social media, YouTube

7 Fantastic Free Social Media Tools for Teachers

http://mashable.com/2010/10/16/free-social-media-tools-for-teachers/

1. EDU 2.0

EDU 2.0 is a lot like online course management systems Blackboard and Moodle, but with a couple of distinct advantages. First, teachers can share their lesson plans, quizzes, videos, experiments and other resources in a shared library that currently hosts more than 15,000 pieces of content. Second, a community section allows teachers and students to network and collaborate with other members who share the same educational interests. And third, everything is hosted in the cloud for free.

2. SymbalooEDU

The popular visual organizing and sharing tool Symbaloo launched its “EDU” version last month. According to the company, 50,000 teachers are already using Symbaloo to organize classroom resources. The new EDU version comes with academic subject-specific resource pages or “webmixes” and top tools like TeacherTube, Slideshare, Google Docs, Flickr and more are fully embeddable. Teachers with a “Free Plus” account can add their school logo and customize the links. The site also allows students to easily share their Symbaloo pages and projects with classmates.

3. Collaborize Classroom

This app gives teachers four discussion format choices. Students can either agree or disagree with a statement, answer a multiple choice question, post responses, or have the choice between adding a new response or voting for someone else’s response. Teachers can add photos or videos to their prompts and all of the discussions take place on one class page.

4. Edublogs

This WordPress-like blogging platform only supports educational content and thus, unlike WordPress, usually isn’t blocked by school filters. Since 2005, it has hosted more than a million blogs from students and teachers.

5. Kidblog

Kidblog is a bit more specific than Edublogs. There are fewer options to adjust the appearance of the main page, and it’s hard to use the platform for anything other than as a system for managing individual class blogs. The homepage serves as a catalog of student blogs on the right with a recent post feed on the left.

Teachers can also control how private they want the blogs to be. They can keep them student-and-teacher only, allow parents to log in with a password, or make them open to the public.

6. Edmodo

Edmodo looks and functions much like Facebook. But unlike Facebook, it’s a controlled environment that teachers can effectively leverage to encourage class engagement. The platform allows teachers and students to share ideas, files and assignments on a communal wall. Teachers can organize different groups of students and monitor them from the same dashboard. Once they’ve organized classes, they can post assignments to the wall and grade them online. They can then archive the class groups and begin new ones.

7. TeacherTube and SchoolTube and YouTube

As the name implies, TeacherTube is YouTube for teachers. It’s a great resource for lesson ideas but videos can also be used during class to supplement a lecture. For instance, you can let Mrs. Burk rap about perimeters if you like her idea but lack the rhyming skills to pull it off yourself. This site also has a crowdsourced stock of documents, audio and photos that can be added to your lesson plans. Unfortunately, every video is preceded by an ad.

SchoolTube is another YouTube alternative. Unlike other video sharing sites, it is not generally blocked by school filters because all of its content is moderated.

The original, generic YouTube also has a bevy of teacher resources, though it’s often blocked in schools. Khan Academy consistently puts out high-quality lessons for every subject, but a general search on any topic usually yields a handful of lesson approaches. Some of the better ones are indexed onWatchKnow.

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