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Khan Academy: New feature: Change your email address
If you’ve ever wanted to change the email address on your Khan Academy account, now you can! Just head over to your account settings page to add a new email address to log in with. If you want to remove the old one, you can do that too after linking your new email address. if you have child accounts set up for your children, they can graduate to using a regular account after turning 13 years old by using the same method.
: Waves, Vigor and WizIQ
The Adventure is Out There. Between May and December 2014, Sarah Weldon and three Ocean Project Leaders will be rowing over 7200 nautical miles from Monteray Bay, California to Hawaii and onto Cairns, Australia. Each day they will be hosting a free and open-to-all online class on their WizIQ Virtual Classroom, from the middle of the ocean along with 3D film footage of deep sea coral reefs and sharks or Mauna Lao, Hawaii, the largest volcano in the world.… Read the rest…
Udacity: Sebastian Thrun: A Time to Learn with the California Faculty Association
This morning I saw an article written by the California Faculty Association. The CFA's mission is to ensure quality education for the students in California, fairness to their teachers, and policies that ensure access to higher education. The article specifically discusses our pilot program with San Jose State University, SJSUPlus.I am very moved to see this article. I had been informally communicating with members of the CFA for quite some time, and their input and guidance had an impact on how this pilot is structured. Moreover, I find myself in strong agreement that quality and educational outcomes matter above anything else; that access is a key ingredient of higher education, but also that there is a need to experiment, get data, and honestly and truthfully study the data to make sure we don't prematurely go for solutions that do not work.I want to publicly thank the California Faculty Association and the faculty of San Jose State University for an ongoing dialog, which I ho…
: WizIQ to Update the Screen Sharing Feature
In our ongoing efforts to improve various features of the WizIQ Virtual Classroom, we are going to revamp the screen sharing option for WizIQ users, making it simpler and quicker. From 1st February 2013, WizIQ users will experience few changes in the screen sharing feature in the Virtual Classroom sessions.… Read the rest…
Coursera: Prof. Tucker Balch from GaTech shares his lessons learned and best practices from teaching a MOOC
Prof. Tucker Balch from GaTech shares his lessons learned and best practices from teaching a MOOC…
: English Out There for General English Courses
Why I use English Out There for general English courses English Out There is a new methodology in English Language teaching which takes students beyond a two-dimensional classroom experience. English Out There provides personalized, experiential and dynamic learning experiences backed up by scientific educational research and testing conditions.… Read the rest…
Learning Solutions Magazine: Babson Study: Over 6.7 Million Students Learning Online by News Editor
The 2012 Survey of Online Learning conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group reveals the number of students taking at least one online course has now surpassed 6.7 million. However, most institutions remain undecided about MOOCs.
Udemy: What to learn next?
(Image by: vxla) There’s a fun Quora question that asks: A wizard offers you a choice: $40,000,000, or the ability to absorb one book’s knowledge instantly, once every week. What do you choose, and why? Most people say they would take the money but some choose the books. The question is mostly a silly thought exercise but it does allude to one interesting conclusion: there’s only so much you can learn. You have a limited amount of time with which... Continue reading »…
Udemy: What to learn next?
(Image by: vxla) There’s a fun Quora question that asks: A wizard offers you a choice: $40,000,000, or the ability to absorb one book’s knowledge instantly, once every week. What do you choose, and why? Most people say they would take the money but some choose the books. The question is mostly a silly thought exercise but it does allude to one interesting conclusion: there’s only so much you can learn. You have a limited amount of time with which... Continue reading »…
Udacity: Sebastian Thrun: Udacity Announces For-Credit Course Pilot with San Jose State University
Today Udacity is thrilled to announce a partnership with San Jose State University to pilot three courses -- Entry-Level Mathematics, College Algebra, and Elementary Statistics -- available online at an affordable tuition rate and for college credit. To my knowledge, this is the first time a MOOC has been offered for credit and purely online. Much credit for this partnership goes to Mo Qayoumi and Ellen Junn, president and provost of SJSU, and to the five fearless SJSU professors who have chosen to work with us at Udacity to explore this new medium. The offices of Governor Brown and CSU Chancellor White have also been critically important to this partnership for their leadership and expediency. Last but not least, I want to personally thank our great Udacians who, like everyone on this list, have worked endless hours to drive innovation. Over the past year, MOOCs have received a lot of attention in the media and education circles mostly because so many students are taking advantage of…
Learning Solutions Magazine: Book Review: Teach Beyond Your Reach by Bill Brandon
In her significantly updated and expanded edition of Teach Beyond Your Reach, Robin Neidorf provides new and experienced distance educators with best practices and examples, an overview of tools and platforms, and strategies for dealing with key issues. Read the review here!
Learning Solutions Magazine: Game Architecture: Delivering Meaningful Learning Experiences by Mayra Aixa Villar
Recent research challenges the assumption that games are not an appropriate channel for learning. By focusing on delivering the necessary experience, designers can produce meaningful, engaging eLearning as games. Here are guidelines to effective mechanics, story, aesthetics, and technology selection that support contextualized practice, invitation to action, and self-assessment of decisions.
: MOOC On WizIQ: Moodle for Teachers EVO 2013
MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses that are generally free of charge, but not always. MOOCs are becoming popular not only in educational institutions of higher education, but also in the informal sector of education. You can now participate in MOOCs on WizIQ.… Read the rest…
CourseSites: Buffalo State
Buffalo State will be launching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on January 16th called “Locating, Creating, Licensing and Utilizing OERs”. They have utilized CourseSites by Blackboard as their MOOC platform. I interviewed Beth Burns and Mark McBride, from the … Continue reading →…
Khan Academy: Khan Academy "Tutorials"
Thanks to a huge team effort, we are reorganizing the site’s content into “tutorials” — short collections of videos and exercises that focus on a single concept, such as “Subtraction with borrowing,” “Perimeter and area of rectangles,” “Shorting stock,” or “Impressionism.” We’ve been working towards this ever since last spring, and we hope you find the new tutorials a great way to learn and practice. Congratulations to Marcia Lee, Tom Yedwab, Stephanie Chang, Marcos Ojeda, Desmond Brand, Jason Rosoff, Ben Eater, Matt Wahl, Elizabeth Slavitt, and Sal Khan!
: English Language Teaching
Training English Language Teachers One of the problems that native English speakers can have when they begin to train as English teachers is that, although they speak the language fluently, they have often never had the cause to learn the nomenclature associated with it (‘what’s a modal verb’, they cry!) or to really consider why certain parts of the language are difficult (articles?… Read the rest…
: TEN THINGS ABOUT ONLINE TEACHERS
Reflections of my experiences in WiziQ in 2012 What does this means for teachers and learners everywhere? TEN THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ONLINE TEACHERS 1) Edupreneurs like to explore new frontiers of mind & technology It’s hard to reflect on 2012 without mentioning my big lead into online teaching via the Edupunk in 2010.… Read the rest…
Udacity: Udacity Student Success Story: Hayden Lee
We have a success story that we’re very excited to share. Like many other Udacity students, Hayden Lee has really applied what he learned in class. Here’s his story. Hayden is a junior at Virginia Tech who entered college studying mechanical engineering. After a year in school, he had a great idea for a website but had no idea how to create it. After thinking about it for a month or so, he decided to learn how to code the website himself. He stumbled on Udacity and began his journey in CS101: Intro to Computer Science. He soon completed this class and moved on to CS253: How to Build a Blog. As he got more experience programming, he realized how much he enjoyed it and as a result of his Udacity experience, he changed his major to computer science. He was able to put his Udacity programming skills to use when he, like Andrew B. attended Startup Weekend in Blacksburg, Virginia. There he formed a team and created a product that helps c…
Learning Solutions Magazine: eLearning Guild Research: Come On In, the Tools Are Grrrrrreat! by Patti Shank
What are members of The eLearning Guild saying about the tools they use in their work? Recent Guild research reports offer the comments of members about eLearning software, and here are a few of those responses.
Khan Academy: "It’s that some kids DO want to learn, but can’t."
Guest post by Andrew Einhorn, founder and CEO of the not-for-profit Numeric.org in South Africa ——- A little over 15 months ago, we started an experiment. We wanted to know if Khan Academy was viable in township (slum) areas in South Africa and if so, what type of impact it might have on numeracy. Numeracy in South Africa is astonishingly weak, with just 2% of Grade 9s scoring over 50% on the annual national assessments in 2012. And so we set out to see if Khan Academy might be used as a catalyst for change. But before I expound on the results of this experiment, I ought perhaps give a little more background on the environments we’re working in. Townships in South Africa are not unlike the favelas of Brazil or the slums bordering Delhi and Calcutta in India. They are urban areas that were, until the end of Apartheid in 1994, reserved for non-whites, but have now become residential hubs for the urbanizing masses. They are typ…