Top 100 Tools for Learning

Top 100 Tools for Learning

This is a great list of tech tools for teachers. I was familiar with most of these applications (this IS nearly a full time job for me!), but there were also a few absolute gems that I hadn't used previously.

This is certainly worth a look and could prove to be excellent fodder for discussion.

Dan

eXe : eLearning XHTML editor

FrontPage - eXe : eLearning XHTML editor

This is simply the easiest multimedia authoring tool that I've come across. While I can do this coding myself, it takes me forever to do so. I was able to put together a sample in a couple minutes that I exported as an HTML folder, which I uploaded and used in 5 minutes. I exported to a SCORM 1.2 zip, uploaded to Moodle, and launched a SCORM activity in about 5 minutes.

This is insanely easy to use and can really broaden your horizons. My only desire is an export to flash option. This could be just around the corner given the fact that this is an open source project.

I can't say enough good things about this. Try it out.

Dan

How “open-source” is Sakai? at bavatuesdays

How “open-source” is Sakai? at bavatuesdays

This post just re-awakens my criticisms of Sakai. It was bad when I first started using it, it's bad now. There are many more bells & whistles now, but they aren't much more than squeaks and moans.

Here is a copy of my reply to that post

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Indiana University moved to Sakai about 4 years ago as its university-wide CMS. Having heard great things about it, I was eager to give it a try. Prior to that we were using an in-house CMS that left a lot to be desired.

After a brief test period, I pushed very hard not to retire that clunky in-house solution. Sakai was slow, confusing, and was a step down from other popular open-source elements out there. Not to mention, it had (has) one of the worst discussion forums I have ever used. Since then, the build at Indiana has added a lot of new, exciting features. Unfortunately, nearly all are sub-par.

Being open-source, we imagined that it would be easy to do a little of our own development, but this is where university bureaucracies make open-source nearly meaningless. At that time, the process ran through a chain of requests, committees, and finally a masked developer somewhere in Michigan who might, if it fit in with the grand vision, look into finding an existing module or developing a new one to fit our needs.

I've gone back to Sakai each year for the last 3 to test it out as an instructor. Each time I turn right back around and use Moodle on my own server. I might be one of the few who don't want to use their own. Though it's easy to use and provides a lot of freedom, it's just another thing I've got to manage. I just want to simplify my life.

I still hope that one day they'll get it right. I'm hoping that one day, they'll offer workshops on how to teach better instead of how to configure your class workspace.

Dan

KnowledgeWorks - Map of Future Forces Affecting Education - Education Map

KnowledgeWorks - Map of Future Forces Affecting Education - Education Map

Neat conceptual map (with links)on the future of education with a particularly techno-centric viewpoint (not saying that is a bad thing)

A good conversation starter

Dan

Remove Vocals from Mp3s using audacity (Win/Mac/Linux) Free

YouTube - Remove Vocals from Mp3s using Audacity

This is a great tutorial for removing vocal frm tracks. This is very useful when you just want that muzac playing.



Dan

VoiceThread

VoiceThread

This is a cool tool. You upload photos for a slideshow, then you can comment (audio or text) on each of the pictures. What's better, though, is that others can also comment.

Here is my sample (terrible production value, but I can work on that). It is a few pictures from a 4th of July parade. http://voicethread.com/view.php?b=5299&invite=4AbMIeWWvU.

I'd like to point out the URL above. You can share this slideshow with others, but it has to be make public to embed in a blog (external website). So, I created a friend (my other email) and "shared" the show with that friend. That led me to this URL. While I don't mind my presentation being public, I don't really want all users of that site to be dropping in and leaving messages. This would be particularly problematic if you were using this for a class. So, either get all of your students in your friends list, I do something like I described above so you can post a link to the content.

This could be a great tool to elicit iCBT-type test responses from your students, or other contributions of voice or text. While it does not work as a threaded discussion, you could have serial discussions through this medium, which is similar to what you get with most blog commenting features.

This might also be good for tutorials. Users could see a screenshot or other images and listen to or read the instructions/descriptions. I picture this as being good to use in one window with the software interface in another window (using audio puts less focus on the image, but it's there if they need it).

Dan

Teachers vote to ban internet | The Register

Teachers vote to ban internet | The Register

Oh My! The Luddites are calling from Brittain.

These folks make your network admins look reasonable.

Dan