News
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Tips to Parents About Online Learning by Jeremy Vidito - Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, mentors and caregivers: thank you for all of the endless hours of support you provide the young people in your lives. As a teacher, school leader and former AmeriCorps tutor, as well as mentor to countless youth, I see the impact of your efforts every day. Our students need supportive adults in their lives who can challenge, mentor and push them to meet and exceed their potential. My goal is to provide you with
Do’s and Don’ts regarding online learning programs that will help guide you in how to best assist the students in your life. I hope you find it helpful. http://gettingsmart.com/2014/09/tips-parents-onlinelearning/
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Video: Creating a Rubric in Moodle Written by Joseph Thibault - Here's a 10 minute video tutorial by
Greg Bird which focuses on the advanced grading Rubric within Moodle . In the video Mr. Bird highlights how to configure an assignment all the way through configuring and building the criteria for your grading rubric, viewing and submitting as a student and then marking as an evaluator. Greg has a host of other elearning focused videos, including other [...] http://www.moodlenews.com/2014/videocreating-a-rubric-in-moodle/
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Wanted: Long-Term Thinking about Technology and Education (Educators need to think long-term about the role of technology in learning) by Ben Nelson - The rampant spread of technology-mediated learning has set off fits of hype and hand-wringing —yet the U.S.'s traditional centers of higher education have mostly failed to confront the pace of change and the implications for students. There is probably no way anyone can keep up with this transformation: the technology is simply evolving too rapidly. Nevertheless, we keep trying. Will these developments truly serve our goals for advanced education? We need to know urgently. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wanted-long-termthinking-about-technology-and-education/
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Chemistry Editor Plugin for Atto - If you’re hosting a Chemistry course in Moodle and need to upgrade how you enter and display equations, the Chemistry Editor for Atto might be your solution. The plugin which was adapted by Geoffrey Rowland to enable Chemistry TeX syntax (an extension of MathJax) to be displayed via a filter. http://www.moodlenews.com/2014/chemistry-editor-plugin-for-atto/
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Chromebooks Surge in K-12 as Tablets Drop Off by David Nagel - Personal computing devices are continuing to surge in K-12, but tablets have lost a lot of their momentum. According to a new report, notebooks — especially Chromebooks — are back on top as tablet shipments were decimated in the latest quarter. http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/08/26/chromebooks-surge-in-k-12-as-tablets-dropoff.aspx

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EdTech 10: Bring (or Wear) Your Own Device #BYOD by Getting Smart Staff - When we heard this week about new gadgets from Apple, we couldn’t help thinking about the impact that devices are having on innovations in teaching and learning. More mobile and wearable technologies means there will be more technology walking into classrooms. Teachers that find ways to harness that technology will often see great benefits. Read on, more headlines this week! http://gettingsmart.com/2014/09/edtech-10-bring-wear-device-byod/
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Google Expands Map Resources for Educators and Students
Google is opening up its Google Maps Gallery service with an expanded array of historical and contemporary maps, as well as tools for students and educators that will allow them to create and edit their own maps. Google Maps Gallery is a repository of maps created by governmental organizations,
NGOs and individuals. According to Google, as of today, the gallery will provide access to all public maps. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/09/16/google-expands-map-resources-for-educatorsand-students.aspx
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Key Questions for Online Learning: Where Digital Living and Education Meet - Online learning, or elearning, is the use of technology to deliver instruction and facilitate and enhance learning. Online learning today includes rich interactive media to promote deeper learning and access to tools that help students reflect on their skills, abilities, and progress as learners. As it has gained in both popularity and promise, online learning has become a priority for institutional leaders to understand and apply to their institution’s particular pedagogical culture and strategic priorities. This EDUCAUSE research brief outlines key questions leaders should ask —and relevant data to consider—to help develop or refine a strategic direction for online learning and the digital engagement it enables http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ekq01.pdf
 Measuring Students’ Self-Control: A ‘Marshmallow Test’ for the Digital Age by Ingfei Chen - The
“marshmallow test” invented by Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel and colleagues in the 1960s is famously known as a measure of willpower. The experiment gave preschoolers the option of either eating one mini-marshmallow right away or waiting 15 minutes to get two mini-marshmallows. Decades later, those who were better at delaying gratification, and resisted immediately snarfing the treat, ended up with stronger SAT scores, higher educational achievement and greater self-esteem and capacity to cope with stress in adulthood. http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/09/measuring-self-control-amarshmallow-test-for-the-digital-age/
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Moodle Mobile 1.6.1 released, now available in the app stores - Moodle Mobile 1.6.1 was released late last week and includes a few updates to improve the mobile Moodle experience via the official app for
Android. New features and improvements include: new languages supported (Japanese, Russian,
Hebrew,page titles display in tablet view,URL resources open in new browser (no re-authentication), and better incorrect password management. http://www.moodlenews.com/2014/moodle-mobile-1-6-1released-now-available-in-the-app-stores/
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New Chrome Plugin Allows for 1-Click Screencasting by Stephen Noonoo - MediaCore’s screencasting software Capture is coming to Chrome via a free browser plugin that records a user’s activity using the same technology as Google Hangouts. Instructors can also use existing cameras and microphones to create their own video using the plugin. After recordings are made, students or instructors upload their videos to their institution’s MediaCore video library. Once in the library, a video’s viewing restrictions can be changed to help protect privacy or copyright. The plugin is currently available for Windows PCs,
Macs and Google Chrome OS Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. http://campustechnology.com/articles/2014/09/15/mediacore-debuts-screencasting-plugin-forchrome.aspx
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Online learning: Pessimism, optimism and realism by Michael M. Crow and Derrick M. Anderson - The way we think about online learning is inadequate. Attitudes generally fall into one of two prevailing camps: online learning optimism and pessimism. It's time to look at it with realism. http://national.deseretnews.com/article/2358/Online-learning-Pessimism-optimism-and-realism.html

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