Free online tools for learning

A list of free online tools for use in learning, teaching, collaborating, etc…

Nice reference for teachers on a budget and with creative ideas…

The Technology Integration Matrix (for K-12)

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) shows how technology can enhance learning for K-12 students.
There are
• five characteristics of meaningful learning environments [active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003)], and
• five levels of technology integration [entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation].
The five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments form a matrix of 25 cells. Each cell has a short illustrating video, using examples from K-12 education.

Would a matrix for Higher education be different or mostly the same?

A vision of students today

A short video written and produced by students in “Digital Ethnography” from Kansas State University.

50 Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

A list of 50 ways of using Twitter in class.

They are classified under

• communication: how Twitter can to “open the lines of communication” in the classroom.c
• class projects and discovering content
• Twitter tools, to use Twitter efficiently
• finding people in academia to follow
• get ready for life after graduation

WebDU 2009

Once more, it’s over. It will probably be another 12 months before there is another opportunity to have so many talented people gathered in Sydney to talk about Web Technology. There are plenty of other conferences around but for me, this is the one essential one.
The problem, made even worse this year, is that there are only two days with 5 strands of talks (up from 4 last year) running in parallel. Each day, after the keynote session, you are forced to make a choice and it means missing out on four other presentations at each of the five sessions.
It is very much a “Web Technology” conference, rather than a “Web Developers” conference and one of the five traks is now called “Team and User Experience” and it covers topics such as Information Architecture, Usability, Design and Team Building. There is still plenty of more technical talk happening in some of the other tracks (Web I, Web II, Flex/Flash, ColdFusion) in sessions labeled from “Fundamental” to “Experienced” with more raw code being exposed in the latter ones.

There were speakers from Microsoft, Google, Adobe and Yahoo as well as plenty of experts implementing solutions on the ground without being beholden to any particular vendor or technology.

Apart from the keynote sessions, here are some of the sessions that I attended:

Web Services – Revisited

I found it very useful to get an overview of how Web Services fit in the big picture of loosely coupled architectures right now.
Kai Koenig recommended vthe best blog post on the topic: “SOA is dead, Long Live Web Services“:

Making a distinction between enterprise-wide critical services and single use applications, Kai pointed out that most Web 2.0 applications these days use some form of API without resorting to pure Web Services.
I was happy to learn that good old WDDX was more alive then ever in this context, taking pride of place next to JSON and XML over HTTP.

It would be great if the we could adopt some kind of loosely coupled architecture to get various systems based around the University to make their data available for other systems: central systems like FlexSis making public data easily available to all Faculties, or even Faculty-based systems offering an API for other Faculties to leverage their data.

Geography and the Database

Now that nearly everybody with a mobile phone will soon be carrying a GPS around, spatial data is easier than ever to record. We all know Google Maps but sometimes we don’t realize the wealth of data available through GIS. David Whiterod gave a great talk on how databases are now supporting geographical data and functions, what to look out for in Coordinate Reference Systems. I have always been interested in GIS so this was great to catch up with all the latest developments in this field, including all the SQL spatial functions.

UNSWTV: Video Portal War Stories

I was particularly looking forward to this presentation, knowing the guys at UNSW as well as the speaker from Daemon and of course the techology behind it all: ColdFusion, and its Far Cry framework. It was great to hear all those “war stories” and getting to know what happened behind the scene. It sounds like Apple’s Podcast Producer is not quite ready yet and is one generation behind tools such as FFMPG. Let’s wait for Snow Leopard as the interface promises to be better but what about the engine itself? Interesting to see all the flowcharts that Geoff and his team drew during the planning stage. I’ve been looking for the slides handouts but it doesn’t seem to be available yet. During the breaks, I also talked at length about this project with the actual UNSW guys who were the clients for this.
At least now I don’t feel too bad about not having developed my own podcast system to a point where it could rival this one… We are just not playing in the same league!

Catalyst: Designing the RIA Experience

This was quite impressive. Ok, it was an Adobe guy, Steven Heintz, spruiking the latest whiz bang product, but it was worth it. A lot of the Flex product line is being rebranded with the word “Flash” instead. This is a RIA design tool and it puts a lot of power in the hands of designers. They should still get a Flex programmer to fine tune the code but it’s impressive already on its own. I want it! In a later session, I was surprised to see that Microsoft has also come up with a similar tool, ready to launch shortly

Take control! How to own your identity online

This was interesting because I’m always interested in making authentication easier in various applications. It was also interesting just as a mere consumer of multiple web applications. It’s all about OpenID. I had looked at that a while ago and was wondering if it would ever take off. It looks like it has and it is establishing itself as the equivalent of “PayPal” for establishing your identity around the Web.

A practical guide to connecting hardware to Flex

Controlling hardware from a web interface, or controlling a web page with a piece of wireless hardware… It all looked like a lot of fun, and the latest development in hardware and software have made this a LOT easier than it used to be. No need to learn Assembler, you can do a lot with Flex now. Hey, I also want to connect some piece of hardware with a web interface so that the next time someone rings the front door bell, a new message appears in Twitter. Maybe it should also post a picture of the person ringing the door bell. Hmm, on second thoughts, maybe I should do some real work instead.

Is Google really the best way to search?

Excellent presentation on Faceted search, by Elizabeth Pek, Head of User Experience at Fairfax Digital. I had already enjoyed the new interface of Domain.com.au so it all started to make sense when Elizabeth took us through the redesign process for Drive.com.au, the motoring website.
I already have a keyword search function on my Unit of Study Outline system but I can see that a Faceted search would be a cool way of creating a better second step to the search process. It would be even better if it was used at the level of the whole university, to provide an insight into the way the information is organized.

Building iPhone Web Applications

Greg Rohan gave us a great overview of a number of tools that you can use to create applications or the IPhone, as well as giving a number of tips and tricks. It was all really just a starting point and it’s up to those who attended to follow up and start creating their own little applications.

Website to Webapp – Designing for Workflow

This was part of the “User Experience” track and Shane Morris, User Experience Evangelist at Microsoft took us through the ways a web application is different from a website, how to use activity scenarios (ii?) and workflow diagrams to plan a great Webapp… and then he showed us a very impressive tool that Microsoft hasn’t yet launched “SketchFlow” which should become part of the Expression Studio. I had earlier been impressed by Adobe’s Catalyst but this looked even better, except that it’s going to be restricted to Microsoft technology of course. At least it might entice some developers to take a second look at Microsoft development. And if that is not enough, there were some free Tshirts of Internet Explorer Eight. That has become my new pyjama top as I’m not game to wear that in the open, yet.

Overall, the good thing was that, for every single session, I was happy with my choice and I was in no hurry to leave to go and check out another session running at the same time. They were all interesting in their own way and I learned something each time.
I could easily have spent a third or a fourth day at that conference to catch up with all the sessions that I missed!

Create World 2008- Apple University Consortium (AUC)

Create World 2008 hosted by Apple University Consortium (AUC) on 8-10 December 2008 at Griffith University; Brisbane was informative and also enjoyable. The 3-day event offered a range of performances, presentations, and technical development workshops.

The hands-on workshops addressed some key tools in educational technology such as end-to-end podcast systems and film editing suites. Another workshop was focused on Creative Commons as a way to avoid certain copyright dilemmas.

The panel discussions raised some interesting questions relating to disciplines within Arts and Humanities:

‘Research on Trial’ explored the components and criteria of research and how it applies to the scheme of research within the Arts. The main question that the panel discussed was what exactly is research and how do we measure it in Arts and Humanities?

‘A Digital Roadmap for NCRIS and the HASS Sector’ consisted of an update on the NCRIS landscape and explored the needs of Australian HASS researchers. The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) Sector is a programme introduced by the Australian Government in 2004. Professor Paul Turnbull from Griffith University described the current status of NCRIS; provided examples of key projects in the USA; and invited an open discussion for future strategies.

‘Digitised creation and digital creation: Will the new medium drive out the old?’ This panel attempted to address the issue of old media vs. new media. The discussion included issues such as the relation between pre-digital and digital creativity; the genre and medium issues; and also contemplated the possible results of the double existence of the digital and pre-digital traditions.

The presentations were varied, but there seemed to be quite an emphasis on Second Life, the popular virtual environment. Three of the presentations focused on the use of Second Life in education. However, I personally have my doubts about the use of Second Life in Arts. I can see the possibilities for subject areas that require simulated environments, but I cannot see how the study of Arts and Humanities subjects in Second Life is transferable to the real world.

The media production team at the University of New South Wales presented an overview of their developments and media strategies. This was an exciting presentation of UNSW’s holistic approach to media delivery solutions at the university.

The performances were entertaining. ‘Topology’ explored the natural musical tone embedded in human dialects. They demonstrated this by performing an orchestral piece coinciding with some famous speeches made by Gough Whitlam and Martin Luther King.

‘Jam2Jam’ performed a real-time musical piece comprised of three separate performers. Two of the performers were present on stage while the other was in a remote location- they maintained contact through Skype video conferencing. Jam2Jam is an application, which allows users to collaborate on musical projects from remote locations.

‘Cinematic Theatre in Action’ presented a fusion of live performance with the magic of the big screen. The performance was designed using Quartz Composer, a new and exciting programme that is inbuilt in the Mac OSX developer platform.

Detailed information about the sessions can be found on the ‘Podcast Program of Create World 2008’: http://createworld2008.edublogs.org/. Here, you can listen to podcasts from the presenters and more. The creators of the site, Allan Carrington and his team, have implemented Wimba voice tools, which allows anyone the option to record their own comments as a podcast with the click of a button. The podcast comment is then automatically uploaded to the site. You can also leave text comments if you wish. You’re all invited to get involved in discussions.

For further information on CreateWorld and other AUC activities, visit the CreateWorld website: http://www.auc.edu.au/Create+World+2008

Glossaries on eLearning

E-learning Guru Glossary. This site describes itself as the ‘world’s biggest, or at least most irreverent, e-Learning glossary’! Defines a variety of terms associated with e-learning and also includes a monthly newsletter you can subscribe to.

CETIS reference. A UK-based web resource aimed at the UK higher and further education community and providing definitions of the terms used in learning technology standards.

The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Published by the Department of Educational Technology at San Diego State University.  Articles are available on the topics of instructional design and education and training.  It is aimed at those with minimal experience in the field.

Source: Electronic resources in the virtual learning environment: a guide for librarians / Jane Secker.  Oxford: Chandos Publishing, c2004 (p. 171).

The rapid eLearning blog

A very nice blog written by Tom Kuhlmann about techniques to use in eLearning.  Very professional. Usually simple ideas but very effective, generally supported by multimedia presentations; a great resource for professional development.

You can subscribe to “Rapid e-learning” and you will receive emails every time a new post is published.

Literature Road Map model

The Department of Information Studies from the University of Sheffield has developed a very interesting way of presenting literature reviews, the Literature Roap Map.  Here’s one on Learning Technologies in the Workplace.

It presents the literarure review in a tree structure, with links to the publications organised under headings. It is a very innovative way to organise existing publications on a given topic and share this with other researchers. There is no explanation as to how the map tool has been developed, is it a simple database with some Flash animations?

L&D 2020: Shaping change in learning

T&J, a magazine in workplace training and L&D (learning & development), is conducting a research project that will look at “what may lie ahead for L&D professionals in the future”. Here’s an excerpt of the description of the project:

Imagine the world of work in 2020. Flexible working has grown enormously and is now common especially among white collar and professional men – and in manufacturing and construction one in five men work full-time hours over four days rather than five. Moofers (Mobile Out of Office Workers) are those growing numbers of people who don’t have a specific place of work; they work in a location best suited to the task in hand – often in restaurants and clubs with designated rooms and office services so moofers can make their deals and recharge themselves and their equipment at any time of day, or night.

These are just some of the possible scenarios proposed in the first stage of an ambitious research project being conducted by TJ and the Institute of Employment Studies; entitled Learning and Development 2020: shaping change in learning the aim is to look at what may lie ahead for L&D professionals in the future.

The researchers have looked at four key questions:

• How will changing demographics and workforce mobility affect the nature of learning required?
• How will the changing nature of business and work affect the type of employee development required?
• How will developments in neuroscience, psychology and adult education influence how people learn?
• How will new technologies, communications and social networks support people’s development?

The first stage of the project is completed and the findings are available at <http://www.trainingjournal.com/assets/documents/TJ-Survey-Report-2008-v3.pdf>