Friday, October 30, 2009

Selective Twitter Status on Facebook

There has been a lot of discussion recently about how to separate (and combine) participation in Twitter and Facebook. Many people use Twitter for work and Facebook for personal communication. For others this distinction is less clear. In any case, having all twitter updates appear in your Facebook status is redundant, and often annoying to your "friends". Here's a solution that might help.
Selective Twitter Status on Facebook: "Selective Twitter Status lets you update your Facebook status from Twitter - BUT you can choose which tweets you want - just end a tweet with #fb when you want to post it as your Facebook status - simple!"

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Cloudworks in action

At the ETUG Fall 2009 workshop in Vancouver this month, Grainne Conole from UK's Open University treated participants to a full-day workshop and plenary talk on learning design. She was also an extremely active participant in the 2-day event overall, first by helping the planning committee by creating a workshop 'cloudscape' at Cloudworks ahead of time, then by continuing to populate the various clouds with links, live blogs of sessions, comments, and keeping workshop the #etugdesign twitter stream active.

Aside from helping us to build a fantastic online resource for our 2-day event that we can continue to revisit and build over time, Grainne really modelled for our community how we can (and should!) collectively create artefacts of our activities, and find ways to involve members who are unable to travel to f2f events. And it was very interesting to see Cloudworks in action! Check it out.
Cloudworks is a site for finding, sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas, experiences and issues. The aims are to:
  • enable people to find, share and discuss learning and teaching ideas
  • connect people with similar educational interests through social networking
  • provide inspiration on designing learning activities and developing resources
  • showcase the work of individuals and communities who want to reach existing but also new audiences
  • provide a place for different communities to discuss, collaborate and aggregate relevant materials, ideas and designs
  • encourage sharing, especially among people who have not shared learning and teaching ideas and experiences before.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Art of Teaching

This is a professional development opportunity at SCoPE for EVERYONE interested in teaching. It is free and open to the public. This event is organized as part of the Professional Learning Series, a collaborative partnership with eCampus Alberta, Alberta-North, and BCcampus. Invite your colleagues!

What: A 3-week asynchronous discussion combined with weekly Elluminate sessions on the art of teaching.

When:
October 19 - November 6, 2009

Elluminate Sessions
Week 1: Intro, Bridging, Outcomes
Monday, October 19, 10 - 11:00 PDT (your time zone)

Week 2: Pre-assessment, Participation
Monday, October 26, 10 - 11:00 PDT (your time zone)

Week 3: Post-assessment, Summary
Monday, November 2, 10 - 11:00 PST (your time zone)

Facilitators:
Neil Smith, Professor, Faculty of Education, Vancouver Island University
Nancy Randall, Past Head of the Vancouver Island University Teaching and Learning Centre
Andrew Marchand, Educational Technologist, Vancouver Island University

How to participate:
Each week of this 3-week seminar will be launched with an Art of Teaching video and live discussion in Elluminate. To participate in the seminar discussion you will need to create an account on the SCoPE site. This is a quick process.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Free book on mobile learning in higher education

Free book on mobile learning in higher education « Tony Bates:
"Jan Herrington, Anthony Herrington, Jessica Mantei, Ian Olney and Brian Ferry (editors), (2009) New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education, Wollongong, Australia: Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, 138p

This book is fully downloadable from here.

The purpose of this e-book is to explore the use of mobile devices in learning in higher education, and to provide examples of good pedagogy."
Thanks to Tony Bates for bringing this book to our attention, who in turn thanks Richard Elliot. :-)

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Art of Teaching

This is a professional development opportunity at SCoPE for EVERYONE interested in teaching. It is free and open to the public. This event is organized as part of the Professional Learning Series, a collaborative partnership with eCampus Alberta, Alberta-North, and BCcampus. Invite your colleagues!

What: A 3-week asynchronous discussion combined with weekly Elluminate sessions on the art of teaching.

When:
October 19 - November 6, 2009

Elluminate Sessions
Week 1: Intro, Bridging, Outcomes
Monday, October 19, 10 - 11:00 PDT (your time zone)

Week 2: Pre-assessment, Participation
Monday, October 26, 10 - 11:00 PDT (your time zone)

Week 3: Post-assessment, Summary
Monday, November 2, 10 - 11:00 PST (your time zone)

Facilitators:
Neil Smith, Professor, Faculty of Education, Vancouver Island University
Nancy Randall, Past Head of the Vancouver Island University Teaching and Learning Centre
Andrew Marchand, Educational Technologist, Vancouver Island University

How to participate:
Each week of this 3-week seminar will be launched with an Art of Teaching video and live discussion in Elluminate. To participate in the seminar discussion you will need to create an account on the SCoPE site. This is a quick process.

Friday, October 9, 2009

TERMIUM is now free!

"Until now, TERMIUM Plus®, one of the largest terminology and linguistic data banks in the world, was available only to employees of the Government of Canada and to subscribers. Those days are over! All Canadians-and all Web surfers, wherever they are-can now consult the Translation Bureau's flagship product free of charge."

Monday, October 5, 2009

Copyright: Aftermath of the Canadian Copyright Consultation

eCampusAlberta, Alberta-North and BCcampus invite you to attend the second web conference in a new 2009 - 2010 Online Professional Learning Series.

When: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 13:30 - 15:00 (PDT) check your time zone

Presenters: Maureen Baron, President, Canadian Network for Innovation in Education

Agenda:
1. Context for copyright – users and developers
2. Issues for copyright in online learning
3. Canadian Copyright Consultation and Legislation
4. Course showcase
5. Upcoming events

To join the Elluminate live session on Tuesday, click the link below up to 30 minutes before the start of the session:
http://tinyurl.com/yb33utj
To log in, just type your first name, and the initials of the institution where you work (for example Bart UNBC).

You'll need an audio set up with a microphone, for example a headset with a mic, and Internet access.

If you have not previously attended an Elluminate Live web conference, please take 5 minutes well before the session and visit www.elluminate.com/support and follow the steps for first time users. A small Java applet will request access to your PC the first time you use Elluminate, but only the first time.

Randy LaBonte, Consultant and PD Coordinator for Alberta-North, will be moderating this series of practical and fascinating sessions this fall.

Copyright: Aftermath of the Canadian Copyright Consultation

eCampusAlberta, Alberta-North and BCcampus invite you to attend the second web conference in a new 2009 - 2010 Online Professional Learning Series.

When: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 13:30 - 15:00 (PDT) check your time zone

Presenters: Maureen Baron, President, Canadian Network for Innovation in Education

Agenda:
1. Context for copyright – users and developers
2. Issues for copyright in online learning
3. Canadian Copyright Consultation and Legislation
4. Course showcase
5. Upcoming events

To join the Elluminate live session on Tuesday, click the link below up to 30 minutes before the start of the session:
http://tinyurl.com/yb33utj
To log in, just type your first name, and the initials of the institution where you work (for example Bart UNBC).

You'll need an audio set up with a microphone, for example a headset with a mic, and Internet access.

If you have not previously attended an Elluminate Live web conference, please take 5 minutes well before the session and visit www.elluminate.com/support and follow the steps for first time users. A small Java applet will request access to your PC the first time you use Elluminate, but only the first time.

Randy LaBonte, Consultant and PD Coordinator for Alberta-North, will be moderating this series of practical and fascinating sessions this fall.

Open Access Week

Open Access is a growing international movement that uses the Internet to throw open the locked doors that once hid knowledge. It encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone, everywhere, for the advancement and enjoyment of science and society.
Plan to participate in Open Access Week, October 19-23, 2009. Activities are planned for that week by organizations all over the world. Of particular interest is a series of noon hour webcasts organized by Athabasca University.
The objective of AU’s Open Access Week is to promote understanding, adoption, use and production of open access resources for formal and informal teaching and learning.

Athabasca University will present a series of five noon-hour webcasts exploring major issues and opportunities presented by open access. Each session will feature an internationally known promoter and developer of open access resources, research or ideas.

Each session will be offered via Elluminate web conference from noon to 1 p.m. Mountain Time (11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Pacific)

Monday, October 19 - The Open Access Scholar

The review, publication and interaction associated with open access dissemination of research is the focus of this presentation, featuring Dr. Terry Anderson, editor of the open access journal The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning.
http://tinyurl.com/obwmka

Tuesday, October 20 - Open Access Research Opportunities and Strategies

Much remains to be discovered in relation to the technology, economy, politics and psychology of effectively producing and using open access content. Patrick McAndrew and Candice Thiele are co-directing OLnet, an international research network designed to assist with and co-ordinate research into the most effective use of these opportunities and to gain both basic and applied knowledge relating to open access content. In this session, they will highlight research opportunities, methodologies and results of current projects.
http://tinyurl.com/npuhh7

Wednesday, October 21 - Open Access Publication

Publication models for scholarly monographs, featuring the pioneering work of Athabasca University Press, Canada’s first open access press. Dr. Frits Pannekoek, president of Athabasca University, will discuss the vision and the challenges of editing, producing and distributing paper books, while licensing the free download of the full text.
http://tinyurl.com/qne9b4

Thursday, October 22 - Open Access Archives and Repositories

Governments and research funding organizations are increasingly reluctant to fund research that is not widely distributed and affordable, creating the need for repositories through which scholars can legally distribute their research results and data. Steve Schafer, director of Athabasca University Library, will discuss how open access relates to and enhances library services. Tony Tin, founder of Athabasca University's repository, AU Space, will talk about and demonstrate AU’s growing collection and discuss the challenges and opportunities of self-archiving.
http://tinyurl.com/ogwgcj

Friday, October 23 - Open Educational Resources

The production, licensing, use and re-use of learning objects accessible through open access distribution will be the focus of this presentation. Noted author and scholar Dr. Rory McGreal will share his knowledge of the increasing opportunities and challenges associated with the open access publication of learning materials.
http://tinyurl.com/kv87un

Friday, October 2, 2009

16 Apps That Make Sharing Large Files A Snap

This blog post got my attention because it was tweeted by @clintlalonde and bookmarked by Scott Leslie. It comes up quite often that we need to exchange large files with others. This list will help to zone in on the service that suits your purpose.
16 Apps That Make Sharing Large Files A Snap: "In this post, I compare 16 file-sharing services. I took three main issues under consideration when creating the comprehensive app list below: Free, Fast, and Useful . . .

Most of the services suggested require no registration. None of them will ask you to download anything to your computer, and all of them are easy to use, and worth using."