April, 2013 | Education Technologies

50 Education Technology Tools You Can Start Using Today | Edudemic

Image representing Dropbox as depicted in Crun... — Image via CrunchBase

Finding the best education technology tools is a time-consuming task. It may even be viewed as a chore (for some). Typically, one tracks down a handful of useful apps or web tools and puts them through their paces at home. Then you probably don’t use any of them because each tool took far too long to understand, use, become accustomed to, and actually implement in a classroom.

That’s why I was so excited to find this Symbaloo created by user lcobbs detailing 50 great classroom tools that are all easy to implement into just about any classroom. From Animoto to Prezi to Dropbox to Stixy (wait what?), there’s a lot to check out. Don’t know all 50 tools? I didn’t! Click on each icon to get an idea about each tool and learn more.

via 50 Education Technology Tools You Can Start Using Today | Edudemic.

50 Little-Known Ways Google Docs Can Help In Education | Edudemic

Image via CrunchBase

Google Docs is such an incredible tool for college students, offering collaboration, portability, ease of use, and widespread acceptance. But there are so many options, both hidden and obvious, that there’s a good chance you’re not using Google Docs to its fullest capability.

We’ve discovered 50+ great tips for getting the most out of Google Docs as a student, with awesome ideas and tricks for collaboration, sharing, and staying productive.

via 50 Little-Known Ways Google Docs Can Help In Education | Edudemic.

12 Ways To Integrate (Not Just Use) Technology In Education #yam

Image representing iPad as depicted in CrunchBase — Image via CrunchBase

There are a couple dozen ways to ‘use’ technology in education. There are also a couple dozen ways to integrate technology in education. Think those two things are the same? Think that throwing a few iPads and a few Edudemic blog posts into a classroom is the best way to launch a 1:1 initiative? In case you couldn’t guess, it’s not. So here’s a hypothetical to clear up my rhetorical questions even more:

via 12 Ways To Integrate (Not Just Use) Technology In Education.

BBC News – More jobs for graduates than the unqualified in UK – study #yam

United Kingdom: stamp (Photo credit: Sem Paradeiro)

The number of jobs in the UK requiring a degree has overtaken the total of posts not needing any qualifications, an employment survey suggests.

More than a quarter of jobs are now available only to graduates, it says.

The study shows a major shift in the job market towards requiring many more skilled workers, as roles disappear for those without qualifications.

Researchers at the Institute of Education surveyed 3,000 adults across the job market.

The findings of the Skills and Employment Survey, with the latest figures for 2012, show a significant milestone in the employment landscape, with graduate jobs at a record high level and unskilled jobs at a record low.

via BBC News – More jobs for graduates than the unqualified in UK – study.

You Only Live Up to the Standards You Set

Personal Development Seminar (13) — Personal Development Seminar (Photo credit: TijsB)

While I’m not one to advocate many personal development hacks, there is one “hack” that I think everyone should use: have high standards for yourself. Having high personal standards will almost immediately force personal growth, and will help you live up to your potential day after day. It’s also really simple to execute.

via You Only Live Up to the Standards You Set.

5 Tips For Hosting Online Class Discussions | Edudemic

Students of Saint Mary's Hall — Students of Saint Mary’s Hall (Photo credit: Robert of Fairfax)

Class discussions that can occur any time of day and students engaged in that discussion. It took me a while to get my head around ‘online’ discussion and I used the experience of other teachers in my school who’d tried it. I currently use this with my Independent Directed Study students (Japanese language) and will be expanding it to my Year 4 students next year. What to consider? Here’s a few of my thoughts:

via 5 Tips For Hosting Online Class Discussions | Edudemic.

What To Know About The Accreditation Of MOOCs And Online Learning

The increasing numbers of students opting to enroll with an online learning institution, combined with the continual evolution of the digital age, has prompted professionals within higher education to address the effect of this growth on accreditation.For centuries, educational accreditation has provided a quality assurance usually by way of governmental or semi-governmental organizations. If a college or university has an accredited status, the qualifications it awards its students are deemed to be fit and proper by potential employers. Critics of this tradition have pointed to escalating tuition fees as a primary cause for disenfranchising middle-class and working class students. These learners, therefore, may be more likely to pursue a course in distance education as it is more financially viable, despite the fact that some of these universities and colleges possess an unaccredited tag.

education (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

At a recent Stanford forum, NYU Education and Sociology professor Richard Arum, even raised the call for the pressing need for educational reform, and for the overall re-appraisal of accreditation standards.

via What To Know About The Accreditation Of MOOCs And Online Learning.

Digital NI 2010

The world is rapidly becoming a fully connected planet, and here in Northern Ireland we have one of the most widely available access to high speed internet based communications on the planet.

In a connected world, individuals can have a global persona. Increasingly, ‘ordinary’ citizens, people who don’t work in the communications industry, have relationships with individuals and groups of interest spanning all of the continents.

Access to sources of information and knowledge bases is increasingly straightforward. From a simple computer or smart phone, one can access nearly all of the information ever known to mankind. This is a phenomenal leap forward from where we were just a few decades ago, where such access was limited to a very small number of ‘experts’, and with library and historical collections, including art works and copyright library collections being digitised and made available to everyone, this access is often for free.

Access to knowledge is increasingly both classless and independent of nationality, with the world rapidly becoming ‘flat’.

The possibilities that this opens up are mind-blowing.

via Digital NI 2010.

Research? Most people cannot understand it – FT.com #yam

English: University of Texas at Austin wordmark. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Should business school students be made to foot the bill for academic research that no one reads? Not any more, says Larry Zicklin, a former chairman of Wall Street investment firm Neuberger Berman, a clinical professor at New York University’s Stern School and a lecturer on ethics at the Wharton school at the University of Pennsylvania.

With academic journals under increasing attack from several quarters, Mr Zicklin has upset some colleagues in urging schools to cut tuition fees by making faculty members focus more on teaching and less on publishing research in journals. He points to research that uses the University of Texas at Austin as a case study and says that fees could be halved if 80 per cent of faculty with the lowest teaching loads were to teach only half as much as the 20 per cent with the highest teaching loads. He predicts that the rise of massive open online courses, or Moocs, and other market forces will conspire against schools that fail to act.

via Research? Most people cannot understand it – FT.com.

How to Stick with It When You’re Learning Something New On Your Own #yam

English: My Learning Ltd - Secondary Learning ... — English: My Learning Ltd – Secondary Learning Platform Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most of us have a passion to learn something new—whether it’s advancing our skillset, picking up a new hobby, or just taking on an entire new learning experience—but unless you’re incredibly dedicated to it, learning something new is surprisingly hard to stick with. Here are a few ways to make your new habit stick.

We’ve talked about plenty of different resources for learning on your own. The problem isn’t that the data and classes aren’t out there and freely available, it’s coming up with the dedication and structure when you don’t have a bill from a college hanging over your head. A recent Open Culture survey shows a number of the most common reasons people don’t complete online courses, ranging from the time required to complete a class to simple old learning fatigue. Most of these problems are easy to deal with.

While you might show an interest in something that doesn’t mean you’ll always stick to it. So, I spoke with Kio Stark, author of the recently released book, Don’t Go Back to School the book should be available on Amazon this week as well about how to come up with a self-education plan you’ll actually stick to.

via How to Stick with It When You’re Learning Something New On Your Own.

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