Collaboration, Conference, Learning Community, Professional Development, Social Media

AACE Global U – Social Media Seminars

groupglobalu

AACE Global U will be hosting a series of seminars around “Social Media: Trends and Implications for Learning.” I was able to listen to the archived seminar for July, however I hope to participate in a future monthly online seminar:

August 10, 2009, 9:00 PM Eastern USA
September 8, 2009: 3:00 PM Eastern USA
October 13, 2009: 9:00 PM Eastern USA
November 10, 2009: 3:00 PM Eastern USA
December 8, 2009: 9:00 PM Eastern USA

The seminar series, led by George Siemens and David Cormier, is without fee and will include live interactive sessions, in addition to discussions with guest speakers and participants. All sessions are co-sponsored by and will be archived in the Education & Information Technology Library (EdITLib). And you can join in the discussion on AACE Connect.

During these Elluminate sessions, the conversations will be active in the webinar and recorded for those who cannot participate at these specific times.  By using the #SMTI hash tag you can find conversations on Twitter, archives in blogs and resources in Delicious.

Here were a few key discussion pieces I found useful from the first social media seminar:

Conference, Learning Community, Professional Development

Wiki Summer Camp

Thinking about using a wiki for your learning environment? If so, you might want to head to PBWorks Summer Camp. This interactive, online forum is a great professional development opportunity for educators who wish to engage in discussion, complete assignments, watch virtual presentations and learn from other wiki mentors some best practices in the wiki-world.

happy logoHere is the PBWorks camp syllabus:

Week One: June 22-26

How to set up your wiki:

  • Wiki Structure
  • What lesson plans to wikify and how
  • Upload files – like your syllabus- and make it accessible from the front page
  • Important features used for this course
    • Folders
    • Tagging
    • Tables
  • Beginner tips from our Mentors!

Register for this week’s webinar on June 23rd at 10:00PST: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/497735667


Week Two: June 29- July 3

Interactive Media and How to use it: Review the media options on our educator site

  • Chat rooms – when they work and when not to use them
  • Videos – tips on video recording software for teachers, and how to quickly embedd videos on your wiki page
  • Images
  • What video and image services are there for educators to use for free

Round Table Chat with Kristine and the PBwiki Mentors

  • Hear from Mentors and find out where they struggled and where they succeeded with interactive media on their wiki.
  • What to be aware of when using photos, video and podcasts (aka – no personal photos on a public wiki!)
  • Learn step by step how to use the interactive media features.

Homework week two: (This should take 1.5 hours)

-or-

Register for this week’s webinar on June 30th at 10:00PST: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/913182851


Week Three: July 6 -10

Security features in PBwiki 2.0 — keep your work private!

  • User Permission levels and how to make changes
  • Folders & Folder security
  • Page level security

Demonstration of the PBwiki Security Features

  • The most important webinar of all — learn how to set security controls BEFORE your students join the wiki.

Homework week three: This should take 20 minutes

  • Create a new homework Week Three page & place it in the Week Three folder.
  • Go to the page on PBwiki Permission levels.  Read over the PBwiki permission levels and answer the questions. Respond to the questions on your week three homework page.
  • Go to the page on Folder Security.  Watch the three short videos and respond to the questions about folder security.  Respond to the questions on your week three homework page.
  • Go to the page on Page Security.   Watch the short videos and respond to the questions about page level security. Respond to the questions on your week three homework page.

Register for this week’s webinar on July 7th at 10:00PST: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/333808003


Week Four: July 13 – 17

Three ways to invite your students — including the BRAND NEW Classroom Accounts

  • Request Access
  • Upload email address
  • Automatically create accounts without email address (for students under 13)
  • How to introduce your wiki to students so it works
    • Parent permission forms
    • FAQ page
    • Sandbox
  • What to expect when your students take over
    • Wiki management

Live Discussion on inviting students and the suprising results

Homework week four: this should take 30 minutes

  • Set your notification setting in my.pbwiki.com to make sure you receive notifications of student changes
  • Upload your student email address, or print out your student accounts
  • Determine what invite menthod works for your class and discuss it on the forum

Register for this week’s webinar on July 14th at 10:00PST: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/983510451


Final:  Webinar Wrap up on July 21st

  • Review and new features for educators.

No Homework — Just new features for your workspace!

Register for this week’s webinar on July 21st at 10:00PST: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/756888211

Sounds intriguing? Then sign up HERE.

Higher Education, Learning Technologies, Open Education

LMS/LCMS Review

There are many Learning Management Systems (LMS) software that are available to purchase or as open-source content to best support online learning environments. I am currently exploring a few different options for a piece I am researching/writing about. I welcome any contributions to this topic: experience, recommendations, research, reviews, etc.

One of the first few LMS systems I used as a student was Blackboard. Often higher education institutions prefer to purchase commercial software for a university-wide learning platform. Other platforms include: WebCT, Angel, PeopleSoft (now owned by Oracle), Confluence, etc. These domains assure assistance and ‘security’ for the university, however how do faculty, staff & students optimize these learning environments.

In my later years of work & education, I have been introduced to open-source LMS platforms like Moodle. There seems to be a bit more flexibility in sharing information, opening up the classroom broadly and engaging learning.

Other LMS/LCMS platforms to review:

Here are a few reviews & articles for various LMS:

I am interested in expanding this list for both commercial and open-source LMS/LCMS platforms. Please share any that you have liked (or disliked), and why.

Conference, Learning Community, Professional Development, Virtual Communities

Webheads in Action

Looking to engage with other communities of practice online?  Then be sure to check out the Webheads in Action Online Convergence 2009 happening NOW and this weekend (May 22-24, 2009).

webhead

The Webheads are a world-wide, cross-cultural, and vibrant online-community of educators with an open enrollment for anyone who wants to join.

I am going to tune into a bit on UStream, check out the traffic on Twitter (hashtag WiAOC) & then call it a day.

Happy Weekend to all!

Collaboration, Higher Education, Learning Community, Learning Technologies, Professional Development

Course Exploration Continues… (Day 2)

Today was the second half of Exploring the Future of Courses: From Courses to Dis/Course web conference.  There great things to hear & learn about from the 3 sessions:

It is great to engage with others who share the same passion and interest in the EdTech community. Although there was some great exchange today, I did leave the online conference with many questions and thoughts to ponder. After digesting the wealth of information & presentations I will be sure to share more thoughts.

Many thanks to:

  • Martin Weller, George Siemens, and Grainne Conole for initiating the web conference
  • All the presenters who shared their experiences & knowledge
  • And of course, the many participants who contributed to a myriad of discussions & posts

For more follow up discussions check out the Disc09 Moodle.