Blog IT

Class lectures? There’s an app for that

The MU School of Journalism is requiring that all incoming freshmen have iPhones or iPod Touch devices to “help students adjust to freshmen year,” Associate Dean Brian Brooks said. “It also would allow them to record lectures and review it. Many schools are doing it now, and it seemed like a great idea to us.” Read article.

District Administrators See Advantages of Web 2.0 in School

While K-12 district administrators are "overwhelmingly positive" about the value of Web 2.0 in schools, the use of Web 2.0 tools in actual learning environments is "quite limited," according to the results of a new study from...read more.

Flip UltraHD Is a Practical, Purposeful HD Video Solution

The popular Flip mini-camcorders provide a small and inexpensive solution for those looking for an easy way to capture video specifically for sharing on the Internet. Read more.

Creating Assignments That Work for Digital Learning Environments

Teachers who spend time actually thinking through assignments that align with the learning outcomes of a course are the most effective in assessing the learning that has taken place. It's debatable that evaluating learning in the purest sense might ever really be possible given the scope of variables in any context of learning, but when assignments are linked closely to outcomes, the results are more significant. Read article.

The Importance of Teacher Professional Development

As a former teacher I know firsthand how important it is to have the ability to stay current and utilize the most up to date information. When I was teaching, I had opportunities to attend well developed and thoughtful workshops on how to transform teaching and learning. Sadly, the enthusiasm engendered by the workshops waned when I returned to the classroom and the reality of the thousands of other things that had to be done. Read article.

FIVE QUESTIONS...For George Siemens

George Siemens is the author of Knowing Knowledge and the recently released Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning. He is also associate director of research and development with the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba and is the founder and president of Complexive Systems Inc., a learning lab focused on helping organizations develop integrated learning structures to meet the needs of global strategy execution. Read interview.