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Showing posts from March, 2010

Campus Pack Fusion - Learning Objects

Administrator Training As we start to move forward in looking Learning Objects, I recently attended the Adminitrator Training to get a deeper view. They have provided many sites for resources and help. They include text, PDF, and video files built in the Campus Pack . This does require a login and password. We have a temporary one if you would like to view the content. Many of the administrator functions establish the control of information shared within Blackboard and what goes outside of Blackboard. It was shared that schools keep the controls to default and maintain the access closed to the outside. However, other organizations that are using it to distribute public information have open this access. One new thing I learned is that you do not need to have these individuals registered in Blackboard in order to use this. You could add users and create their group to use Campus Pack Fusion and they would be able to share with the same group of people or make their information publ

Social Media and Education

I recently attended a webinar sponsored by Google presenting many of the tools that are out there for educators. They did emphasize the fact of the growing abuse of social media sites this is why the stated that Twiducate.com and Edmodo.com are two sites where you can build a secure learning area. Twiducate.com allows you to create an online community for your classroom. They do emphasize the safety factor about social media sites, but in this form teachers are in control of the site. Using this in the classroom creates student engagement. Also, when you have 30+ students in a classroom and you are trying to get everyone to participate, this may be an alternative to track the participation. Edmodo.com - the interface looks like Facebook, but it is not. One thing cool about this one is students can submit assignments and you can look at the grade book for the status. This allows teachers to track, but also grade items submitted. Both are FREE and have different features. If I had

Web 2.0 Classroom, Transforming the Culture Webinar

This was a webinar about how you can use the web to not only enhance learning but also shift the control of learning to the student. Presenter Alan November was at the bottom line level selling a product but he had some good ideas which can lead to a shift in the learning culture to a more information based, student led one. Here are some of his observations and recommendations: don't focus on technology focus is the information flowing through that technology - education is the only field that hasn't change their approach to match the advancement of technology change the "tech planning committee" to the " learning results committee ", it brings a different mind set students, teachers, administrators are trying to make decisions without enough information regardless of how incredible a presenter you are, any misconceptions in their heads that are trumping your great teaching and they won't remember what you said. students need to become information co

NHEA Convention

Day 1: It seems the economy or the time is affecting the conference, it seemed smaller than NHEA's I've been to in the past. Still, it was nice to be with this community of people and share in this experience. The morning panel, Nānā i Ke Kumu, comprised of Naomi Losch, Richard and Lynette Paglinawan, Noelani Mahoe, and James Ka‘upena Wong. Each one shared a different mo‘olelo about their relationship to Tūtū Puku‘i or Puna as James called her. They expressed their gratitude for having known her and all mentioned her kindness and generosity. One takeaway for me, Naomi mentioned that Tūtū Puku‘i would write things down regularly. That came across in our video with Keola Chan last week too. We need to be documenting what we are learning from our kūpuna or what we are observing in our environment. If we don't, sometimes things get lots. So that's one message we'd like to share in the upcoming revision...document and share with each other. KS Table: I had a s

Workplace ‘Ōlelo I

Hi Everyone! Last month I participated in Workplace ‘Ōlelo I with Ho'okahua and Kumu Kahealani Lono. It was a two-part workshop with a total of 3 hours to soak it all in. There was about 25 of us in the class, and we all varied in race, age, and job positions. It was great to see such a wide range of individuals in one class wanting to learn Hawaiian. Being as this was Workplace ‘Ōlelo I, we did not dive into sentance structures or patterns. We started off with commonly used Hawaiian words and slangs that we might have heard growing up or in passing. We started off with the "Kanaka Survey" which is a 2-page story with Hawaiian and English words. Here's a short sample: Today, this wahine momona (large female), a malihini (tourist), in a red mu’umu’u (dress) went hele (go/come) up to me and said, “ Aloha (Greetings)! You look like a kama’äina (local). Can you tell me how to find the Pali (Cliff)?” I told her, “ 'A'ole pilikia (No problem)! You just go

Adobe Connect Mobile

Okay, so I tried this out on an iPhone 3G and an iTouch. They both work the same; however, the iPhone you can do the phone conference call at the same time you are watching the screen or even chat. I will say it is small and you will need to squint. But, you get the general concept of the meeting. The iTouch could also see the screen, but you need to be on a LAN line or phone to be in the audio portion unless you are just texting to communicate. So, overall for the Adobe Connect Mobile 1.0, its okay. I am not jumping up and raving about it yet, but hopefully they will figure out a way where it can stream the audio portion so you don't need to dial in. Oh, and did I say that it works best if you are on WiFi versus the Edge (this depended on your connection and location). Last, attached is a document to read more about it. So to sum things up - would I recommend this to people right now? Probably not because it is hard to see. Would I use it? It depends on the meeting. Beca

Bb9 Training

The upcoming training will focus on Course Tools and Wimba Tools in BB9. I've create a PPT for you to view prior to our meeting at http://elearn.ksbe.edu/p30801567/ Here are the discussion points to consider, some of which we've already started discussions on: Could we use the build in survey function instead of Survey Monkey which would eliminate the step of checking the results in a different program? Mention no drop box feature, will this be a problem? Any additional discussion items you feel are necessary?

Blogs vs. Discussion Boards

Since we asked the question, I did a search to see what people are saying. From what I read, they feel that blog is a "me" tool vs. the discussion board which is an "us" tool. I think we can use them interchangeably and it would work fine but people who have experience with blogs will be looking for the creator to post and drive the blog. People can comment on a blog but it may not lend to a back-and-forth conversation. In the second audio link they also mentioned that people tend to do a more thoughtful post in a blog vs. a discussion board because of the nature of the tool and layout. Here are some resources: 1. This was referenced by more than one person, has a good table (discussion boards referred to as message boards) http://www.commoncraft.com/what-are-differences-between-message-boards-and-weblogs-15 2. Palomar College - Blackboard feature of the week discussion http://www.palomar.edu/atrc/audio/podcasts/Segments/0999/atrc0999BbFeature.mp3

Ehterpad - Gotta check this out!

Okay, Google Wave you need to be invited; however, there is something new. Etherpad, which has been aquired by Google, has an online function that you can type and compare documents. It is a way you can share notes with everyone. You can import a document (word or plain text), PDF, HTML, OpenDocument (Linux), bookmark file. Also, each person can then type and contribute to the document and each line is numbered so you know what you are referencing. One of the cool features is you can playback a timeline of your meeting. Try this out and see how this free collaboration tool can be handy. http://etherpad.com