From NMSU Hotline: NM online learning policies and practices ranks nationally

Great news from VSS, but forgot to report here. NMSU Hotline for today reminded me:

New Mexico’s eLearning support system, IDEAL-NM (www.ideal-nm.org), has been ranked number six in the country for online learning policies and practices by The Center for Digital Education. IDEAL-NM provides eLearning services in partnership with K-12, higher education and state agencies.

Two programs administered through NMSU, NM Learning Network Program (www.nmln.org ) and RETA (reta.nmsu.edu), have been integral to the success of IDEAL-NM.

Let the web help you graph the economy

Consider using various analytic tools to find out how people are accessing your site/blog/wiki/online course and see how it can inform your blogging journey.

Finding out through Lijit that my tiny post on the social graph was causing people to land on my blog when they googled 'graph of the economy.' This lead me to do some searching myself. Let me preface this by saying that I am by no means fluent in economics...

;-)

and I would urge you to evaluate the creditability of these resources if you are wanting to 'trust' the graphs that you see.

Here's an interactive graph about inflation as of late. Interesting! I know prices keep going up but it's cool to see some stats on it.

For a more qualitative look at perspectives on the economy, you can try Twist to graph trending topics in Twitter (here's one of 'economy', 'dow,' and 'stocks').

I do fancy visualizations of various things via the internet. In doing so I happened upon




and




both of which are interesting ways to look at graphs of the economy.

I hope this was helpful if you happen to be searching for those terms. May your journeys through the interwebs be prosperous.

VSS revs up the call to bridge the gaps!

Susan Patrick begins the morning by highlighting international efforts to improve access to education around the world. The gist is that the US is falling behind because of the speed with which other countries are moving toward better access and systemwide professional development in elearning. Susan challenges us to keep focusing on providing a world class education to all kids. In one example, the state of Georgia, there are over 400 high schools and only 88 qualified physics teachers. How else can the US provide quality education to our students without implementing blended and virtual education? Follow @desertjul on Twitter this morning to see some of the related resources from this moment at NACOL's VSS!

Google Sites and Notebook Webinar Tonight, NMSU Families Webinar Tomorrow

Find out more about these free webinars at http://webinars.nmsu.edu.

Fabulous Friday Following

Just a few things for you to look out for on this Friday, October 10...I'll try to help you see the forest through the trees.

MoodleMoot New Zealand 2008 just ended, but you can stream some very fresh information reported on twitter nicely via hashtag #mmnz08 (ie: what's up with Moodle 2.0, what Martin Dougiamas recommends Moodle communities should invest in, issues involving students identity management, etc). It's worth a moment of your Friday time, especially if you are a Moodle administrator. If you get especially curious and want to go more indepth, follow my shared Moodle feeds here to see aggregated Moodle tweets from throughout Twitter alongside recent blog posts by attendees.

The Twitter 20 is an effort by Jay Baer to conduct real time, '20 question' interviews of 20 influential Twitter stars. It happens this morning, follow it live, if you dare ;-). I think this would be interesting for those of us who are looking at educational possibilities of microblogging or uses of twitter for learning. I love how the format is presented...

140 character questions (x20).
140 character answers.
In real-time.
On Twitter.

I'll be with Melody and Kerry as we try to persuade folks at the Community College Roundup to try out Everybody's Business. We look forward to expanding users across campuses to widen the institutional knowledge community.

I realize these are all random weak-tie-style connections to Moodle, Twitter and Higher Ed Social Networking... maybe you'll find something here for you. If not, stay tuned. Next week I will be with some amazing colleagues at the New Mexico Technology in Education Conference and chatting up all sorts of things from Moodle to Adobe Connect to Professional Development Ecosystems to Web 2.0. And yes, there will mobile blogging and probably even a Twitter hashtag, #NMTIE08? any other suggestions?

Have an amazing-super-fabulous-glimmering Friday!

Give one XO to a child in a developing country, Get one for a child in your own life

I have not once regretted following Julz lead and participating in the G1G1 of 07, and I've been delighted with my daughter's XO. This Sugar Linux machine has been designed for children to practice and develop/program their own technology adventures. Since our XO came in January, many people have asked how to get one of these machines...and now you can!

Amazon will handle the Give one, Get one program this year, still at the amazingly bargain price of $399. So check it out, and consider connecting a young person in your life with 'gen XO' kids around the world.

Moodle Webinars On Demand, Wikis in the Classroom Coming Up

Thank you to the fabulous educators who came out the past two Mondays. We had some great conversations and excellent ideas shared on how teachers can use Moodle in their classrooms. To access the recordings for Show me the Moodle and Introduction to Moodle on demand, visit the NMSU Webinars site. Don't forget the collection of resources for each event, where you can see the chat log and access other cool stuff.

Hope you can join the superbly talented presenter and model RETAzen, Bethany Bovard, for

Webinar Event: Wikis in the Classroom I

Date: Monday, October 6, 2008

Time: 6:00-7:00 pm MST

Description:
Wikis are extremely useful tools for doing everything from helping you easily create web sites to providing your students with an engaging collaborative workspace. Yet, choosing the right wiki from among all those available can be quite challenging and time-consuming. In this webinar, you will explore a few different wikis and learn how to choose a wiki that's appropriate to your class needs.

TO ATTEND:
Please use the following link to attend the webinar:
http://nmsu.na3.acrobat.com/wikis1fa08

Plan to join us 15-20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate, speakers are required. A simple computer microphone and/or a headset is ideal for interaction. A webcam is optional.

If you have never used Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at: Adobe Acrobat Pro Support Center
https://admin.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

For complete information on this and all of our webinars visit us at:
http://webinars.nmsu.edu or contact us at webinars@nmsu.edu or call 575.646.6143.

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning
Quotient) with us!

Interested in Moodle? Show me the Moodle Webinar Monday

There's no need to scream ...

See how easy it can be to create interactive learning environment using Moodle and hear what teachers are doing with it.

Please join me Monday for...

Webinar Event: Show Me the Moodle

Date & Time: Monday, Sept. 29,2008 6:00-7:00 pm MST

Presenter: Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Description:
Find out how teachers use Moodle in their classrooms and see how easy it is to create an online classroom environment. Participants will discuss ideas for integrating Moodle in the classroom and other learning situations.

To attend:
Please use the following link to attend the webinar:
http://nmsu.na3.acrobat.com/moodle2fa08. Plan to join us 15-20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate speakers are required. A simple computer microphone and/or headset is ideal for interaction. A webcam is optional. If you have never used Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at:
Adobe Acrobat Pro Support Center
https://admin.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

For complete information on this and all of our webinars visit us at: http://webinars.nmsu.edu. If you have questions or need tech assistance, please contact Cissy Lujan-Pincomb or Miley Grandjean at webinars@nmsu.edu

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning Quotient) with us!

RETA Webinar Team

Intro to Moodle Webinar this Monday

What is Moodle and why would you want to use it? Who is using it in New Mexico? What does a a school district need to run Moodle?


Please join me for a revamped version of my Introduction to Moodle webinar. I'll be sharing the basics, as described below, and promoting the resources at our super cool OTL wiki (http://reta-otl.pbwiki.com) where you can learn about Moodle 'til your mouse is content.

RETA would like to invite you to our NEXT professional development
webinar in our eLearning with Emerging Technology Series.

Webinar Event: Introduction to Moodle

Presenter: Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Date & Time: Monday, Sept. 22,2008 6:00-7:00 pm MST

Description:

Moodle is an open source course management system used by educators around the world. Created by Martin Dougiamas to support social constructivism,Moodle provides flexibility and autonomy for districts and teachers while supporting a wide variety of interactive social learning tools. In this session you will learn more about what Moodle can do and find out what infrastructure is needed for districts, schools, and teachers need to access this powerful toolset. To attend: Please use the
following link to attend the webinar:
http://nmsu.na3.acrobat.com/moodle1fa08.

Plan to join us 15-20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate speakers are required. A simple computer microphone and/or headset is ideal for interaction. A webcam is optional. If you have never used Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at: Adobe Acrobat Pro Support Center http://www.adobe.com/support/connect.

For complete information on this and all of our webinars visit us at:
http://webinars.nmsu.edu. If you have questions or need tech assistance,please contact Cissy Lujan-Pincomb or Miley Grandjean at webinars@nmsu.edu or call 575.646.6143

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning Quotient) with us!

RETA Webinar Team

RETA (Regional Educational Technology Assistance)
College of Extended Learning
New Mexico State University
http://reta.nmsu.edu

See you then!

Just a thought on Moodle v. Drupal

Drupal, you're a rock star...but your reporting features just don't hold a candle.
v.
It's just data, but then again, it's the Data!

We should probably research some way of adapting Drupal to give us the data we need. Any ideas?

ICOT in the NECC

Caught up in the net of NECC even though I'm nowhere near. Not that there's anything wrong with that (but we can all only run away from home so often ;-) )...a variety of my Google Reader feeds and Summize alerts (trackable through GReader) keep me in the loop on the news and notes at NECC 2008.

Amazing what you can observe when a whole bunch of people at the same session tweet at the same time...not to put to fine a point on it, and not to name names but when 'this session is boring' gets tweeted with a topic name all in the same span of time you kind of get the picture...crazy.

Haven't even glanced at the NECC Google Trends but I think we can safely assume there has been a spike as of late.

So the moment that prompted this post was actually the locating of ICOT (ISTE's Classroom Observation Tool). We need more open and/or free assessment resources like this one.

Catch the fire...

http://summize.com/search?q=necc
http://www.google.com/trends?q=necc%2C+moodle
http://twist.flaptor.com/trends?gram=necc&table=0

Scribd

I have seen Scribd, but never paid attention. Hmmm, docs, ok. Was playing with FlashPaper and Kerry did some research on .pdf to Flash and came up with this...

Now I get it! It's like the Slideshare of pdfs, docs, etc. Woah, the cooliemust embed codes of existing or your own content...

Check it out. First time I posted this I posted a Moodle resource that was on the site. It was later removed...so I found this!

Handbook on Synchronous e-Learning - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Handbook on Synchronous e-Learning

Gizmodo's headline: "Future-y"

XO 2.0

Read Matt's post here.

Streaming News, Emotion, Thoughts & Conversations

There's something happening which I can't describe because I don't really have the words or the schema to say it at this point.

I imagine it as this great nebulous cybernet of memes - I might venture to guess that RSS is the main technology which has allowed for us to have these amazing streams of information.

When my colleague Phillip shared the Maramushi Newsmap http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/newsmap.cfm

It reminded me of these stream of conversation/consciousness/emotion sites

http://www.wefeelfine.org/ (draws from blogs in general)

http://twistori.com/ (draws from twitter)

Finding twistori led me to Summize ..I do especially like the searches for popular terms like "is down" or "listening to" or one of the coolest "#haiku"

http://summize.com/

So what exactly is happening here? ;-) I could see some cool mashup of all of the above which is designed to meet the learning needs of students...and society in general.

The magic of the 'Turn Editing On' button will be revealed...

... at this week's RETA Webinar.

Below are the event details and instructions for participating:

Event: Introduction to Moodle II
Presented by: Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Description: Now that you know what Moodle is, you’ll want to see it in action. In this demonstration, you will see how a basic Moodle course shell can be designed into a learning module. This will give you an overview of the Moodle design process. Participants will discuss ideas for integrating Moodle in the classroom and other learning situations.
When: Tuesday 13 May 2008, 04:30 PM - 05:30 PM MST


TO JOIN THE WEBINAR
Our webinars are one hour and will begin promptly at 4:30pm MT (5:30 CST; 6:30 EST; 3:30 PST).

If you have previously registered for this event or you are having problems registering for the event, please use the following url as it will take you directly to the webinar session: http://nmsu.acrobat.com/r32422589/

Join the webinar 20-30 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate speakers are required; a simple computer microphone and/or headset is ideal for complete interaction. A webcam is optional. If you have never used Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at: http://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

TECH ASSISTANCE
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact us at webinars@nmsu.edu or call us at 575.646.6143.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please visit us at http://webinars.nmsu.edu

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning Quotient) with us.

Thank you,
The RETA Webinar Team

Pitfalls of mobile blogging

Phx Airport Terminal D Starbucks
Funny how you forget to mention things. Slide pictures from the Sloodle pres by Jeremy Kemp.. Supercool!

Somehow in the mobile blogging excitement & frenzy, grammer & structure get a little crazy.

Enjoying the symposium

First I must tell you the salad for lunch was like a dream (so great you must see a picture)..as a matter of fact all of the foods has been great.

It has all been great. Carefree has been amazing, ,presentations are fabulous, Sloan C is just a first class organization.

It's nice to talk to people who have used Second Life in their teaching. Certainly, I've never been with so many Moodlers... I've learned so much.

Que Cooliemust.

Marginalia

Open source discussion annotation for Moodle! Beautimus - we're watching a live demo as we speak...

Http://www.geof.net/code/annotation/

Sloan C International Symposium: Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning

I am so fortunate to be able to be here in Carefree, Arizona as part of the NMSU contingent. It is absolutely beautiful - what a great idea to bring the best of the virtual and real world (hikes in the desert with experts, complete sessions in Second LIfe, and a vast assortment of other hybrid sessions involving Moodle, Elluminate and even more).

Our keynote presenter is the director of eLearning at Adobe ! How cool since we use a lot of Adobe in eLearning (in particular Adobe Connect). Her presentationis Wayfinding in the Learning Metaverse.

Questions posed...
What are learning stakeholders doing with all of this stuff?
Does real learning take place in a mobile environment?
What happens...in the Metaverse?
When the physical world and the virtual world together definethe real world?
We need to pay attention to the mixing of learning, play and recruitment (as in the Army Game).
Staggaring statistic: percent of growth rate for online enrollment (9.7%) exceeds then overall higher education student population growth rate... (1.5%). Can we get an OMG people?
How do we move from fascination to sustainable innovation? Ellen Wagner introduces us to the notion of 'wayfinding'- the way you get around when you have no map, no plan to follow.
How to wayfind:
1) prepare yourself for the quest
2) chart your course so you don't get lost
--research
--reference models
--effective practices
--community
3) keep an eye on where you're going
4) leaven the extra baggage behind
5) 'be excellent to eachother'

Must add great announcment - Flash and Flash Video will be open through the Open Screen Project!!!

Opening @ Opera House

Miss Information

For my own misunderstandings of the concept 'Object Oriented' I must apologize. I have, in attempts to explain Moodle's acronym, misrepresented the concept.

In my recent explorations of Ruby on Rails and Yahoo Pipes, I actually learned what Object Oriented means. I also learned some other cool things which were new to me like the difference between scripted and compiled programs. Anyway, the true meaning of an object oriented language is reflected here.

Which totally also makes sense, because I did know that this is how Moodle works...I just got confused with the end-user WYSIWYG experience. I learned also, of course, about some of the cool features of these programs and managed to pull together at least one decent pipe with the help of a tutorial.

And so I now attempt to clarify my role of 'Missinformation Provider' to 'Miss Information Provider.' Surely I'm not the first person to blog about their own mass distribution of misinformation.... LOL. This is officially my attempt at transparency and openness regarding my own misstatement in the true marketing 2.0 spirit. I promise to do more homework next time and make sure I keep you in the loop when I do realize my errors.

Introduction to Moodle - On Demand!

Catch the aforementioned RETA Webinar at your convenience here.

Catch the Moodle Fever

You are invited...
Introduction to Moodle - RETA Webinar
Presented by Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Moodle is an open source course management system used by educators around the world. Created by Martin Dougiamas to support social constructivism, Moodle provides flexibility and autonomy for districts and teachers while supporting a wide variety of interactive social learning tools. In this introductory session you will learn more about what Moodle can do and find out how it can be implemented. You will even be able to hear from some teachers who have used it in both distance and blended education and see examples from their courses.

When: TODAY
Tuesday 29 April 2008, 04:30 PM - 05:30 PM MST


TO JOIN THE WEBINAR
Our webinars are one hour and will begin promptly at 4:30pm MT (5:30 CST;
6:30 EST; 3:30 PST).

If you have not registered for this event, please go to the following link
to register at least 24 hours prior to the event:
http://nmsu.acrobat.com/intromoodle1/event/registration.html

If you have previously registered for this event, attend by going to the
following link and enter the email address and password you used to
register: http://nmsu.acrobat.com/intromoodle1/event/login.html

Join the webinar 20-30 minutes prior to the start time to configure your
computer. To participate speakers are required; a simple computer microphone and/or headset is ideal for complete interaction. A webcam is
optional. If you have never used Acrobat Connect Professional, please test
your connection at:

http://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

TECH ASSISTANCE
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact webinars@nmsu.edu or call us at 575.646.6143.


FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please visit us at http://webinars.nmsu.edu

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning
Quotient) with us.


Thank you,
The RETA Webinar Team

LunchOMatic

Pack another cool tool in your lunch tomorrow with the RETA Webinar on ScreencastOMatic Tuesday at 12 noon MST.

Worth the risk

The last time I posted a Slideshare to this blog, it broke my template and all of my loverly little widgets went to the bottom of the page.

In my search on learning ecosystems, I came across this presentation. I felt I could give the template issue another shot, because I think the content has lots of implications for myself and the fine folks I work with.

| View | Upload your own

The secret life of wikis in the classroom...

may just be revealed on Tuesday.

Getting to know the basic Moodle Activities: Choices and Journals

Show me the Moodle - Choice and Journal Activities
Sunday, April 6 - 11 am-12 pm MST

Presented by Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Register at: http://moodlebots.pbwiki.com/register+here
Attend at: http://nmsu.acrobat.com/retashowmethemoodle/

Moodle Choice and Journal Activities are some of the easiest Moodle activities to implement. In this hour long webclass we will demonstrate how to implement these activities and discuss how we can use them in our online and blended classrooms.

This session is for Moodlers who have already had an introduction to Moodle Course Design. This session will be recorded for on demand viewing. Details will be shared after the session.

Attending these sessions

A simple computer microphone and/or chat headset is ideal for participation. A web cam is also nice, but not required.

Please plan to join the session at least 20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer.

Tech Assistance

Support will be available 30 minutes prior to the start of session for tech assistance.

Photoshop Express Opens Up

'Free' Photoshop...

https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

Thanks to ASCD Smart Brief for this valuable information.

Wikis in the K12 Classroom - Just how do you do this?

Wikis are all the rage - with very good reason. Exactly how, however, do you do this, especially in the K12 classroom? What about guidelines, permissions, safety...?

Check out this post I made to Moodlebots Blog to find out how you can learn about wikis in the classroom today, tomorrow, and beyond.

http://moodlebots.blogspot.com/2008/03/using-wikis-with-your-students.html

Bon (Wiki) appetit!

PBWiki 2.0 yummies up New Mexico Moodles

I have tried a beta test of PBWiki 2.0 while putting together the New Mexico Moodle Administrator's Wiki at http://minimoot.pbwiki.com/

The more developed permissions system allows me to invite users to create their own account rather than having to use a community password. There were five levels of user access, I believe.

Simple and delicious.

Blocks are the new Black

Shopped around for the basics of Moodle course design? Ready for something new?

Accessorize your basic course with Moodle Blocks ~ http://moodlebots.blogspot.com/2008/03/show-me-moodle-blocks-5-pm-mst-today.html

Spring is a great time to spice up your (course) look! Join us today.

I think, therefore I Moodle...

For the Moodlebots, OTLO, EDUC8, and Dexter E2T2 groups I work with...

This week’s RETA Webinar!

Blogs in the Classroom I by Cissy Lujan-Pincomb and Miley Grandjean
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 – 4:30 pm-5:30 pm
Register at: http://webinars.nmsu.edu/

You hear about blogs everyday from students or co-workers, but have you thought about using them in your classroom? In this webinar session you will be introduced to the refreshing world of blogging where you will begin generating ideas on how you might use blogs within your own classroom. In this first session we will introduce you to: what a blog is, what a blog can be used for, help you set up your own blogging account, and then send you on your way with resources, so that you will make an informed and enjoyable push into the “blogging world.”

This week’s Show me the Moodle Webclass!

Show me the Moodle Blocks by Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz
Thursday, March 6, 2008 - 5 – 6 pm
Register at: http://moodlebots.pbwiki.com/register+here

How do you add RSS feeds to the sidebar of your course? What if you want an interactive calendar for students? These are only a couple of the Blocks available in Moodle. In this one hour session, we will demonstrate implementation of these popular blocks and show you how you can add Widgets to incorporate other dynamic content into your course.

This session is for Moodlers who have already had an introduction to Moodle Course Design.

This session will be recorded for on demand viewing. Details will be shared after the session.

Attending these sessions

A simple computer microphone and/or chat headset is ideal for participation. A web cam is also nice, but not required. Please plan to join the session at least 20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer.


Tech Assistance

Support will be available 30 minutes prior to the start of session for tech assistance.

More great eLearning webinars and webclass sessions coming up every week! For more information, see
http://moodlebots.pbwiki.com/Synchronous+Learning+Events

For more information on Moodle

Our ancillary resource for this session is the Moodle 1.8 Handbook at our site at http://reta.nmsu.edu/moodle. After attending, you should be able to practice the ‘hands on’ component in your own Moodle classroom (contact me if you would like a course environment for your use at RETAMoodle - http://reta.nmsu.edu/moodle).

Can’t make it?

Sessions will be recorded. A link for a session recording will be available. Contact me for more information.

My Mobile Home...Page

So I read about Mofuse on Mashable and had to try it out. A bit of a bug in the Mowser plugin but the support crew fixed it almost immediately after receiving the email I sent. My goal was to make a marvelous Mobile Home Page for Moi. Tre cutiemust!

http://hollyrae.mofuse.mobi

Upcoming Show me the Moodle Sessions

Hi Everyone ~ Happy Leap Year to all from RETA Moodle!

I have some information I'd like for you to know. Feel free to share this with friends. In addition to the wonderful RETA Webinars coming up in the next couple of months, I have scheduled some 'Show me the Moodle' webclass sessions on specific topics. These topics are designed to help you with specific parts of Moodle course design. You will find more information at the Moodlebot Wiki - http://moodlebots.pbwiki.com/Synchronous+Learning+Events

Show me the Moodle - Blocks - March 6 - 5 pm MST [register here]

How do you add RSS feeds to the sidebar of your course? What if you want an interactive calendar for students? These are only a couple of the Blocks available in Moodle. In this one hour session, we will demonstrate implementation of these popular blocks and show you how you can add Widgets to incorporate other dynamic content into your course.

Show me the Moodle - Adding Resources - March 13 - 5 pm MST[register here]

Adding content to your course is a breeze with Moodle. Find out how to add websites, HTML, PowerPoints and other types of files in this one hour on Moodle Resources.

Show me the Moodle - Assignments - March 16 - 11 am MST[register here]

There are four main ways to use the Assignment activity in Moodle. In this one hour session we will demonstrate each of these and give examples of how they can be used in online teaching and blended instruction.

Show me the Moodle - Choice and Journal Activities - April 6 - 11 am MST [register here]

Moodle Choice and Journal Activities are some of the easiest Moodle activities to implement. In this hour long webclass we will demonstrate how to implement these activities and discuss how we can use them in our online and blended classrooms.

Moodle Administration Professional Learning Community [register here]

March 11 - 4:30 pm MST and April 8 - 4:30 pm MST

This is an open learning community of educators who are currently or planning to administer a Moodle site. Topics of discussion may include security, course management, user management, troubleshooting, etc. Participants in this group are invited to return on a monthy basis to share ideas and discuss how they can support Moodle in their schools and districts.

Moodle@Picacho: Transforming Teaching with Interactive Online Course Management Tools

I dig action research. I was very lucky in my graduate experience to be invited to the Center for Teaching Excellence Action Research conference in Taos in 2006 to present my study on a strategy I used in my classroom.

During the 2006-2007 school year, I lead an action research study using CTE grant funding with a wonderful team of teachers at my site. We studied Moodle in our own professional learning and we used it with our students - collecting data and reflecting on our work along the way.

The result is the lengthy Action Research Report that I will post today. It's been in Google Docs for a long time now and it's time to put it on record. This report will be included in the CTE Action Research report which will come out in June at this year's conference.

The report is located here: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dg2jjhbv_45dndxn5

As Moodle has changed, so has the relevance of the technical discussion of Moodle within the report. The highlights, however, reveal that customized professional development and access to a professional learning community supports teachers in their adoption and implementation of Moodle. By working together, educators mediate the challenges of implementing new tools with students. There is also some interesting data on the attitudes of the students who participated.

Almost a year out from the busy time when I wrote this final report, I view it more as a comprehensive snapshot of what we worked on and what we learned, rather than something which informs other educators from a research standpoint. Don't get me wrong~ It could very much be useful, but I am learning every day how the little things about technology change rapidly and the conversation is more about reflective practice than analysis of the tool.

I look forward to future writings on my work with educators and Moodle, now that I can see the study from different angles. I would enjoy engaging in a discussion about the report and the question of how it could inform what teachers are doing today with online tools.

Theme of the Day: Help people learn more in better ways!

I received some excellent news updates today on the topic of differentiation and assistive technology. What it all boils down to is that the edtech leaders and evangelists among us have much to do with special education and assistive technnology, or rather all of us, in all of those fields, have work to do, together.

Then TechCrunch served up this story about Howcast. What a perfect opportunity to break down a task analysis in the spirit of Dr. Poel at NMSU.

Here's an example of the helpfulness and straight up 'how to ness' of Howcast. How do we get these clever ex-Googlers to work for the Force? Of course, by force I mean, the good side....aren't all of us ed-vangelists on that side?

Free books on Digital Media and Learning for download

Here's the description from the website at http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/dmal?cookieSet=1

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning examines the effect of digital media tools on how people learn, network, communicate, and play, and how growing up with these tools may affect a person's sense of self, how they express themselves, and their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systematically. The full text of each volume in the Series is provided for free and open access thanks to the generous support of the MacArthur Foundation. The full text of these chapters is openly available below. We ask that you complete a brief site registration process, or log in if you are already registered at MIT Press Journals. Registration is entirely optional, but we hope you will register because the information that we gather helps us learn more about open access publishing. If you're experiencing access problems or have questions about e-access registration, please email journals-access@mit.edu.

Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth

Digital Media, Youth, and Credibility

The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning

Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected

Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media

Youth, Identity, and Digital Media