Tag: technology

Virtual Communities, women

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

Laura Pasquini

Kudos to all the ladies who engage & contribute to the world of technology.  You continue to influence and inspire those around you.

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Today is Ada Lovelace Day:

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology.

Women’s contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognized. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Entrepreneurs, innovators, sysadmins, programmers, designers, games developers, hardware experts, tech journalists, tech consultants. The list of tech-related careers is endless.   c/o http://findingada.com/

Be sure to celebrate by posting about women who inspire YOU.  Although the numbers are growing , there are less women in technology.  Let’s be sure to recognize those we admire.  Speaking of which, here are just a few of the many women who inspire me:

Higher Education

A National Technology Plan?

Laura Pasquini

National Education Technology Plan: Action Steps

To help states and districts prepare today’s students for the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow, a set of seven action steps and accompanying recommendations have been developed.

  1. Strengthen Leadership
  2. Consider Innovative Budgeting
  3. Improve Teacher Training
  4. Support E-Learning and Virtual Schools
  5. Encourage Broadband Access
  6. Move Toward Digital Content
  7. Integrate Data Systems

This national plan was initiated in 2004 to increase the involvement of technology in K-12 education.  I hope that this tech plan will also be part of the educational reform focus for the new administration.  The changes to K-12 technology use can and will impact students who attend college & university.

There may not be a mandate for higher education to have a specific, uniform technology plan, however there are a few trends to follow from the last few Horizon Reports  c/o Educause.  Many institutions have seen great value incorporating technology into their strategic plans and recognizing the need for this support and growth.

Are you aware of what YOUR institution is planning for technology development & support for learning?  Find out.

Learning Technologies

Technology Assists Learning.

Laura Pasquini

Technology is often created to make things more efficient and our lives easier.  I also think that there has been excellent developments in the field of technology to support our various learning needs. 

New technology, such as the Kindle II e-reader, are supporting learners who have disabilities and also offer text-to-speech support.  I think I first viewed this gadget as a new reading toy, but this little device has such a greater purpose for supporting learners.

  Other technologies that are assisting the classroom include:

  • SMART Boards: interactive white boards engage learners
  • Free video lectures: streamed on the internet or downloadable
  • Class portal: lecture notes, slides & other course material; discussion board and option for virtual office hours

Students are using technologies that are often free, social and portable:

  • Accessible mobiles & PDAs
  • Laptops
  • Digital cameras (with CapturaTalk)
  • Screen shot readers
  • iPods or mp3 players to view recorded lectures

What are other new technologies that YOU have seen students utilizing at your institution to help them learn?

 

For other contributions about assistive technology tools used in education here are just a few links to check out:

Collaboration, Learning Community, Learning Technologies, Professional Development

Supporting Learning & Teaching

Laura Pasquini

kmdi_logo_vert

I was introduced to the Lecture Series from KMDI at the University of Toronto from my former U of T colleague.  This series is free and open for live events to the viewing public by creating a log-in ID and password.  The other option would be to check out the Recently Published Events on the ePresence Presentation Portal.

Yesterday’s 2-hour lecture series was on the topic of  “Supporting Learning & Teaching.”  Three Curriculum Learning and Teaching presenters from OISE discussed various topics around this main idea for the viewers.  Here are the presentation topics and a few few notes/thoughts/questions that I had for each:

  1. New Ways of Teaching & Learning with Technology, by Jim Slotta
  2. Digital communication technologies: educational and social practices, by Claire Brett
  3. Technologies for Higher Education, by Jim Hewitt

 Here are some notes & references made during the webcast that caught my ear/eye:

  • The challenges to using technology in education is the evolution and perspective of social online resources.
  • Check out the WISE Project: http://wise.berkeley.edu/
  • Values in Education (Terry Anderson, 2008): Presence, notification, cooperative learning, student modelling, documenting and sharing
  • Technology & learning is understanding HOW to best utilize & embedd these technology resources into education and courses.
  • How do you reconcile the difference between education and cultural purposes of these tools??
  • Social vs. Technical integration; the GRAIL model: GRaduate Student Academic Identity on-Line – to help students see how their research and training is connected to their broader academic experience and relevance to their social life.
  • Higher education learning with powerpoint, clickers, podcasts & wiki:
  • Do students skip class if the lecture is available on podcast?
  • Havard study says NO; students use podcasts for key points in lectures, or could podcasts be used to replace lectures and use the lecture time for more in-depth review of matrial 
  • Clickers: “gateway” technology to expose more lecturers to the great uses of technology in their teaching practice. 
  • Clickers promote learning by: questioning, encourage peer to peer learning, take a vote/poll & discuss results with peers in the class
  • Clicker Results: Increased performance on test, decreased dropout rates & reduced failure rates (10-12% is now down to 4%)
  • Higher education needs to consider utilizing peer instruction/learning instead o f traditional teaching practices
  • MIT are going the way of Blackboard: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html

Overall, these lectures provided a few insights and it is interesting to see what colleagues elsewhere are thinking about learing & teaching with technology.

A few technical notes, that you should keep in mind if you are to partake in these lecture series:

  • distance viewers are able to engage in online chat & questions
  • ensure you have a strong wireless connection for streaming video
  • attach  good set of speakers as the sound quality was low 
Collaboration, Learning Community, Learning Technologies

C4LPT Resource Centre

Laura Pasquini

Looking for ideas on how to best utilize technology for learning?  Then I would recommend that you check out Jane Hart’s website:

 C4LPT Resource Centre
Here you will find a collection of technologies, tools and learning trends emerging in education.  There are a many links, bookmarks and collaborations to provide any educator with ideas on their technology projects for learning.  I especially enjoy Jane’s Pick of the Day, which is updated consistently in her blog. This website is divided into two main elements:

  1. The Resource Centre
  2. The Social Learning Network

The best part of this resource is Hart’s interest in collaboration for learning technologies.  She wants recommendations from YOU for the Top Tools of 2009.  This database of information is regularly updated and contributions come from various educators using technology.