Web 2.0 Tools and Social Media for Learning and Teaching

Social Media Session for Academicians: An Outline

2011-09-09T10:57:00.003+05:30

Social Media for Academicians

Preamable

Historically invention of new media - print media ( that created books and heralded university education), multimedia (that enabled rich representation and created e-learning) have altered and many times accentuated the process of academics. Social media is the latest in the list of enabling technology that is expected to transform education process forever. The potential of social media -its ability to overcome the traditional barriers of time, distance and even language that have always limited the richness and reach of education is immense. This has made the web a new learning habitat.

Session Objective and Outline:

The session will aim to create

(1) awareness for academicians about social media (2) appreciation for its potential to contribute to academic process and (3) suggest tools and process to adopt into learning and teaching process.
3 reasons for academicians to consider social media as a regular resource and platform for learning and teaching process
Tools for academicians and administrator
Examples of social media uses in school,engineering and medical education
shares experience of real time teaching

Sample Past sessions

Creately launches diagramming plugins for Confluence..

2011-07-22T10:33:00.000+05:30

.Here is the launch of Creately for Confluence, an online diagramming plugin for the enterprise collaboration platform, Atlassian Confluence. With this, all Confluence customers can now add beautiful looking flowcharts, uml diagrams, wireframes, sitemaps or just about any diagram type to their wiki pages and blogs. Check out our very own Creately for Confluence video here.

.and JIRA

Yet another exciting diagramming plugin for your favourite issue tracking and project management software, Atlassian JIRA. Issues keep bouncing to and fro, and now you can combine a worth a thousand words diagram with text when explaining a requirement. Now with Creately’s full integration into the JIRA interface, you can easily add diagrams to your JIRA issues. Take a look at the Creately for JIRA video here.

Creately for Confluence and JIRA plugins are available for installation on your own Atlassian server starting from $99 for 3 users. You can buy a license for just the number of users who are required to edit diagrams or your whole user base - you choose. This plugin is now available for downloading with a free 14-day trial. So go try it out now

Software Diagramming: A new design paradigm

What is Good about Blogs?

2011-07-21T11:46:00.001+05:30

Web Blogs or just blogs have turned to be a very effective publishing means for all. Be a Business or a teacher, blog have some good things to offer. According to Susana and Sergio (2007), weblogs or blogs have several advantages:

They are easy to setup and administrate in contrast to other technologies.
They are easier to publish all types of resources (text, images, video, etc.) to the Web when compared to traditional web publishing.
They allow instant publishing with just one click and are easy to create and maintain, as opposed to traditional web pages that are labor-intensive and require at least some web design knowledge
They can be updated easily, from anywhere ( mobile, laptop etc) without having to worry about FTP connections, web authoring software, etc.
They have the ability to reach a large audience without losing information quality and allowing for different levels of detail. They break the trade off between reach and richness of information.
The access to information posted in weblogs is 24/7 (anytime/anywhere). Publisher assumes an omnipresence status
No special blogging software is needed to create a weblog. Some bloggers use plain HTML to create their weblogs. However, most blogging software allows a person to create and maintain a weblog without knowing HTML.
Other technologies can be integrated into a weblog. For example, using of Wikis as enablers for group writing and knowledge sharing (eg. building glossaries).

Research Report: Emergent learning and learning ecologies in Web 2.0

2011-07-09T11:50:00.000+05:30

This paper describes emergent learning and situates it within learning networks and systems and the broader learning ecology of Web 2.0. It describes the nature of emergence and emergent learning and the conditions that enable emergent, self-organised learning to occur and to flourish.

Specifically, it explores whether emergent learning can be validated and self-correcting and whether it is possible to link or integrate emergent and prescribed learning. It draws on complexity theory, communities of practice, and the notion of connectivism to develop some of the foundations for an analytic framework, for enabling and managing emergent learning and networks in which agents and systems co-evolve. It then examines specific cases of learning to test and further develop the analytic framework.

For complete paper see here

A Creately Tool for Drawing and online Collaboration

2011-04-26T09:15:00.000+05:30

Drawing are essential part of learning at all levels of education. Earlier I had mentioned about freehand drawing tool Imaginationcubed in my post A Neat Tool for Freehand Drawing. Here is an even more innovative drawing tool Creately.

Creately is an online diagramming software with intuitive and easy to use Visual Collaboration platform. The extensive library of Shapes and easy start Templates offers unlimited possibilities with the types of diagrams that can be created with Creately. Creately is a great software with excellent support for concept maps and a host of other diagram types. But the real clincher is that it comes with ready-made templates for Graphics Organizers like Y-charts, Spider Diagrams, Word Webs, StoryBoards, KWL Charts, etc that are great for K-12 Education.
Creately comes with Free and Paid plans; and it's a fully interactive interface that runs in your browser.

You may also find the following links helpful -

http://creately.com/Customer-Love

http://creately.com/about-us

http://creately.com/Free-K12-Education-Templates

http://creately.com/diagram-examples#k12

WTLT #1: Teaching With Web 2.0 Tools: An Evolving Experience

2011-04-18T14:14:00.000+05:30

Periodically, technological advances have changed the pace, scope and shape of every human endeavor. Education is no exception. In this essay we report a real world experience in harnessing web resources for enhancing teaching process in an engineering college environment. SDMCET is an engineering college under VTU and offers both UG and PG courses in engineering. The author is a faculty in the department of computer science and engineering. He exploring web resources that can be used in conjunction with teaching and has been adopting them ever since.

Starting in 2000, from email usage for exchanging questions and answers with a class of students, I conducted a couple of experiments and currently using assorted set of web tools to conduct class delivery entirely on the web. I used search engine to discover sources of curriculum design and a custom search engine to pin point course resources. Used Alert services to get updates and Blogs to publish class notes, question bank . We used online docs to prepare and publish learning resources such as presentations and additional reference materials. I also used groups to create a community for class and used it to communicate and make course related announcements. All these resources are joined together at course home page. Recently I also used quiz tools as part of evaluation process and recently discovered lesson plan tools.

The Web 2.0 for Teaching and Learning is a work in progress. You are welcome to send your comments and suggestions. You may also share the web 2.0 tools you have discovered and used with me and other readers of the blog.

Let us begin the wonderful journey of web 2.0 in Teaching and Learning

Student around the world are Eager to use Web 2.0 Tools

2011-04-18T09:20:00.000+05:30

Students aren’t waiting around for schools to adopt 21st-century collaborative learning tools and neither are their parents, as they increasingly support their children’s use of digital devices for learning, according to Project Tomorrow’s latest Speak Up survey. Here is the detailed story

Web 2.0 for Teaching Mathematics

2011-04-18T09:04:00.001+05:30

Mathematics teaching can be easy and fun when web 2.0 tools are used in the classroom. These tools are available at all levels of schools: primary, middle and high school. Here is one such resource. Earlier we had mentioned web 2.0 resources for teaching Spreadsheets

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Web 2.0 Math Tools Home - Web 2.0 Math Tools via kwout

Spreadsheets for School Teaching

2011-04-15T14:08:00.000+05:30

The other day I visited a high school as a member of a team selecting a computer instructor. The job of the instructor in this school is to teach children aged 14-16 years, the basics of computers and a set of useful software. As a step towards testing the candidate, the prospective teacher was asked to conduct a session of about 30-45 minutes engaging the class. For this session, she choose spreadsheet as topic and started an introduction.

But no sooner she mentioned one or other feature of spreadsheet, one or the student is to continue with details that feature. In no time class turned into a chaotic. Most students already knew something about spreadsheet and teacher had nothing more " interesting" to add. The teacher could have come with certain exercises in Spreadsheet so that she could have managed class properly.. . Here are some spreadsheet teaching resources for the teachers.

Spreadsheet for Schools

Spreadsheet in the class room

School Engages Tech Generation With Digital Learning Tools

2011-04-12T10:01:00.001+05:30

Elsewhere I had written that " don;t confiine u r children to u r learning for they are born into different digital world. Here is a school that has moved in that direction. Here is a report on a North Carolina school district switching from textbooks to all-digital learning materials. My favorite quote is this piece comes from Mark Edwards, Superientendent of Schools in Mooresville, North Carolina: "For years we would tell students "We will prepare you for your future." But their experience in school didn't have much to do (with the future).

I would say it would be the same to say "We are going to prepare you for driving a car, so get on this horse." And the kids say "That doesn't make sense, i'm not going to be riding a horse." For more details see here

National Institute on Drug Abuse Releases Teaching Tools for Physicians

2011-04-12T09:41:00.000+05:30

The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently released several teaching tools to physicians to improve identification and treatment of patients suffering from substance abuse, according to an Anesthesiology News report.

The teaching tools include a clinical examination from Boston University School of Medicine on opioid risk management, a lecture presentation from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Services in Grand Forks on how to broach sensitive subjects with patients and a lecture developed by Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., that introduces medical students to methamphetamine abuse and dependence.

The NIDA offers these tools in multiple formats. Physicians and medical students can take advantage of a Web-based module, a clinical examination, case studies, lectures and a faculty workshop, among others. For complete story visit here

Improving Education with Web 2.0 tools

2011-04-11T16:06:00.002+05:30

// An Interesting blog post on Educational use of Web Tools by Jeevan Dongre, an alumnus and is working currently with Mpigeon

Improving Education with Web 2.0 tools

Posted: 09 Apr 2011 11:25 PM PDT

Education is becoming more dynamic, networked and increasingly electronic. We live in a world of Internet social networks, blogs, digital audio and video content, etc. On one hand it allows to have unrestricted access to the world's best educational resources on the other side look as all this variety and trained to use it – Oh, how easy!
For a teacher, the task today is not only to provide students with the knowledge in accordance with the approved curriculum, but to teach them the methodology of learning and self-education. To teach them the necessary skills to work with information, ability to interact effectively with colleagues, through modern IT, and the ability to constantly evolve and learn independently. To work effectively you must use all the achievements of modern educational technologies and appropriate instrumentation, that allow us to work faster and more convenient with the information to plan their work, maintain communication with students and colleagues, to empower the educational and scientific activities, create and live with the times.

Overview of existing Web 2.0 technologies

Let's see what kind of "modern technology and tools". Certainly in the first place, this technology Web 2.0. and E – Learning. By the way, what is it?

Well, this is the second generation of Internet services, which is based on collaboration between users to create and share content.
In this sense, Web 2.0 – a new internet, which makes its users, rather than separate "dedicated" (administrators, web designers, etc.), Communicate and work together is the motto of this new technology!

After all, we know that in the course of joint activities – people learn best. Here theory and practice of works together. Professional knowledge and skills, and qualified to discuss and defend their views, and introduction of new system, etc.
So, what are the tools of this technology that can be used by teachers right now and for free of cost?
Let's start them in order and try to combine them into groups.
1. For the planning of educational work:
Google Docs is free of cost application, refers to online services to work with documents and includes the ability to work with text documents, presentations, spreadsheets, forms for interviews, etc. File created in Google docs remain stored in cloud, can be viewed from anywhere, shared easily with students, and finally also have feature to download a copy of your material.
Another tool for planning training sessions are services to create mental maps MindMeister (knowledge maps, mind maps). Knowledge map helps to organize a plan of educational activities in the form of networks, hierarchical or arbitrarily connected nodes (events). Basic principles of mental maps are quite simple:

The main theme is placed in the center of the leaf, branch off from it all the other elements.
Instead phrases are written only in keywords, which have the primary meaning.
The main branches (elements) are added to images, links, files and other items.

Project planning can be done using another free tool Gantter, where your every action or event unfolds on the time grid to perform. Although, it is separate service but can easily integrate with Google Docs for collaborative work and replace the need of Microsoft Project.
2. To develop training courses:
Udutu, a free service for the development of electronic courses. Development of course using Udutu does not require knowledge of programming. All work is done by visually constructing the course, adding different elements and content. Created a course, you can place on the Internet or saved on a computer. Or you can use Udutu online to educate students on courses designed by you.
At the same time you can save Udutu electronic courses in various formats, including in the international standard SCORM.
3. To store & share the information:
The most well-known online stores include:

DropBox – Best suited for drag and drop, folder/file sharing directly from desktop feature. Read more about using Dropbox.
Clip2Net
Box.net

4. For immediate release:
On the Internet there are many services that can be used to distribute educational materials (text, image, audio, video, etc.). The most famous of them:

Slideshare, Scribd – services to accommodate the presentations ppt (with an import of your own Internet resource)
Youtube, Vimeo, Google Video – Services to post a video (with the possibility to import your own online resource)

5. For the learning process:
There are more than 50 sites for Web -conferences (webinars), video and virtual classrooms.

The most famous are: Adobe Connect, E-Works, GoToMeeting, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, WiZiQ, V-class, VideoPort and others can extend the capabilities of the classroom, involving them students who can not physically be in the audience but have access to the online broadcast of educational lessons.
khanacademy.org - open educational interactive video library. Allows you to watch educational films on various subjects including Maths, Science and arts.

6. For the control of knowledge and testing:
There are many solutions that automate the creation of different sort of tests. For example , services

7. Tools for Collaboration:
Wikis – Web sites, the structure and content that users can work together to change, using the tools provided by the site. Wiki invites all users to edit any page or create new pages using standard web browser without any of its extensions.
The most popular free service for creating wiki resources are:

Blogs – mini-sites, usually on specific topics. Platform for the deployment of blogs:

LiveJournal
Blogger
WordPress
Twitter – a micro-blogging system that lets users send short text messages (up to 140 characters), using a web interface, SMS or third-party client software.

8. Full distance learning system:
In fact, distance learning – the use of any technologies that allow for learning when teachers and students (the student) are separated by distance and/or time. It is possible as the work through a network Internet and via local computer network.
The most known and used this:

Moodle, Sakai, OLAT, Dokeos, Docebo, LRN and others.

The most widespread system Moodle , because they first came to the market. Among the most promising new and include:

Distance Learning System SharePointLMS – an innovative design, LMS based on advanced Microsoft technology – a system of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007/2010.
Distance Learning System JoomlaLMS – a collection of powerful tools for remote education system based on open source Joomla CMS.
Distance Learning System WebTutor allows you to organize the planning, conduct and analysis of user training through e-learning courses, as well as to provide communication and information exchange between learners, teachers, experts and system administrators.

One of the sample project include the use of WordPress CMS and respective plugins to provide features such as instant assignment upload by faculties through e-mail, attendance, downloads, video tutorials, time-table, calendar of events, online books, e-newsletter and Google Apps to provide personalized e-mail, calendar and docs services to faculties and students to collaborate effectively. This can be viewed at http://www.dsceiem.com/
Another project under development is Global Virtual University http://fb.me/GlobalVirtualUniversity

Web Resources for Learners: Oragnizing Student Life

2011-04-09T12:47:00.001+05:30

Web is resource not only for teachers but also for learners and students. In this connected and digital age- with so many devices and activities to attend, organizing student's life becomes a challenge. Even within academic domain students are pulled betweeen a series of commitments- attending class, submitting assigments, drafting papers and more. It is quiet understandable to note that students need tools to plan and organize thier learning life the way managers need tools to organize thier working life.

Simple, yet useful student organization. TrackClass via kwout

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For such student who need a web based organizer, Trackclass is the answer. It allows students to stay upto date, take notes, be informed. It is free

Safe Seach for Students

2011-04-08T12:43:00.000+05:30

Today web has been growing as useful resource- information and tools. The search engine has become gateway to the world of web resources. The major search engines are very good at getting information of relevance. However given the free nature of web- sometime search engine return results that are not good or even harmful from students perspectives. This is more so if your students are underage and studying in schools.

Sweet Search via kwout

However fortunately for us- teachers, students and parents- there are many search engines that are aimed at learners and return safe informations. Here is one such safe search engine Sweet Search . The search engine is edited by a group of experts including librarians and teachers. The group evaluates all content from this search engine. It is a safe bet for teachers in schools and parents at home.

Creately Desktop!

2011-02-18T10:22:00.000+05:30

New Product Release from Creately

We’ve just launched a new Desktop version of our successful creately.com( http://creately.com) online diagramming service and I thought this would pique your interest. We'd love for you to cover us cos we think your readers will really enjoy Creately Desktop.

Over the last year we havegrown from strength to strength with Creately now used by over 80,000 users

around the world and available across multiple platforms from Google Apps and Chrome

Store to commercial platforms like Central Desktop and FogBugz.

Our brand spanking new Creately for Desktop application is an easy-to-use and powerful diagramming tool (just like creately.com) that works on your desktop and provides the same collaboration features as an online tool.

So why release a Desktop app now when the world is moving to the Cloud?

Well our research and interaction with customers over the last 2 years has shown us that many of our
business customers are still weary of having all their data completely in the cloud and they want to know that their data is safe on their local computer and accessible anytime. We have risen to the challenge with Creately Desktop that offers the best of both worlds - and we think this is a great way to take on
the elephant in the room - Microsoft!

Happy Diagramming!

Learning about OER – Open Educational Resources

2010-12-13T16:15:00.000+05:30

Learning about OER – Open Educational Resources

A Dozen Great Free Online Video Lecture Sites

2010-12-13T16:12:00.000+05:30

A Dozen Great Free Online Video Lecture Sites

Free maths e-learning with Nokia

2010-12-08T00:15:00.000+05:30

Free maths e-learning with Nokia: News24: Sci-Tech: News via kwout

Nokia has developed a mathematics learning tool for schools and has rolled it out on social network MXit.

"It's the most interesting project I've been involved in," Nokia mobile learning solutions manager Rita Vanska told News24.The program allows Grade 10 learners to access maths tuition via the MXit social network at no cost and teachers are also able to communicate with learners. Here are details

Cloud computing Solutions for Education

2010-12-03T17:08:00.000+05:30

Cloud computing resources are veritable in nature. They have something to offer each and each one. Here is a comprehensive set of solutions for educational institutions from Microsoft called Live@edu

Live@Edu: Microsoft Education Solutions via kwout

BootsStrap: A Cloud Computing Enterprise based in Pune

2010-12-02T10:29:00.000+05:30

Online Collaboration Software | SAAS Based Project Management | Free Subversion Hosting & Invoicing Software for SME via kwout

NCES Create A Graph - Male, Female faculty in CSE

2010-12-01T12:37:00.002+05:30

Below is a preview of your graph. To edit your graph Click here...

This email was sent to you automatically from the NCES Create a Graph website.

Create-a Graph Online and send it via email or post it to blog

2010-12-01T12:25:00.000+05:30

Creating graphs is part of our learning since primary schools and extends up to college education and sometimes even research. Here is an online tool that helps u create a graph- all general kinds and also helps u send it others through email or post it directly to the blog
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Create A Graph via kwout

Web Tools for Teaching Practice Jerry’s iPad moments: Conference going

2010-11-24T10:33:00.000+05:30

Jerry’s iPad moments: Conference going

Jerry's main intention for this column is to write about how " he " uses the iPad in his teaching practice, but this time he will use this space to focus in on another aspect of our teaching profession- attending conferences. I used my iPad for the first time at a conference this weekend in Nagoya, at the annual JALT gathering, and I must say it enhanced my overall experience in subtle yet significant ways. To help you consider how you might use an iPad at a conference, I’d like to share my thoughts and reflections on how it went. In this first of two posts on the topic, I’ll go over some of the apps I used most and consider some other ways I used my iPad in next part .complete post here

Educational use of social networking technology in higher education

2010-11-22T19:58:00.000+05:30

Here is an interesting research article by Hsiu-Ting Hung, Steve Chi-Yin Yuen

This study explored how social networking technology can be used to supplement face-to-face courses as a means of enhancing students' sense of community and, thus, to promote classroom communities of practice in the context of higher education. Data were collected from 67 students who enrolled in four face-to-face courses at two public universities in Taiwan. Findings indicated that the majority of participants developed strong feelings of social connectedness and expressed favorable feelings regarding their learning experiences in the classes where social networking sites were used as a supplementary tool. Learner difficulties and concerns of instructors about the educational use of social media are addressed with recommendations for future research and practice. To reac complete article visit here

Why Web Tools for Teaching and Learning ?

2010-11-18T15:30:00.000+05:30

Web is expected to become a dominant computing platform in the days to come. Web tools are becoming part of our learning and earning days. According to reliable sources by 2020 most people ( meaning most of our students) will access software applications directly from the web and share and access information through the use of remote server networks, known as cloud computing. They will be less dependent on tools and information residing on their personal, individual or even institutional computers.

Much of our current students and most of our future students have already familiar with the use of social networking technology and a range of web-based tools- many of these tools are for learning. As they grow further and enter the world of work- they will carry this trend further.

Among the most popular cloud resources now are social networking sites, web-based email services such as G-mail, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail, microblogging and blogging services such as Twitter and Blogger and video-sharing sites like YouTube, picture sharing sites such as Flickr, document sharing and applications sites such as Google Docs and Office Live and social -bookmarking sites like Delicious

Even institutions are taking advantage of cloud resources such as this.

All in all it is better to follow the trend than to fight it out

Cloud use in University

2010-11-15T13:04:00.000+05:30

IT Connect Cloud-Based Services via kwout

Vozme: A Tool to Text-to-Speech Application

2010-11-15T09:44:00.000+05:30

Text to Speech tools are very handy for teachers. Here is one Vozme that let you to do that. This allows you to choose male and female voices and creates a mp3 file and use it any where.

vozMe - From text to speech via kwout

Teaching Uses of Blog: Blog as Course Home Page

2010-11-07T12:22:00.001+05:30

SOA via kwout

Teaching Computer Networks using Open Source

2010-11-06T13:07:00.002+05:30

Here is a open source for teaching Computer Networks

Open Source for Teaching Mathematics

2010-11-06T13:01:00.002+05:30

Open Sources for supporting teaching and learning process are available in increasing number. Their variety and volume is almost infinite. Here is an example of open resource for teaching mathematics

Teaching in Linked Environment

2010-10-31T20:09:00.002+05:30

Teaching has prehistoric origin. And since then it has been evolving. Purpose of teaching and its means and tools are functions of times and technologies at any given time of human history. Ever since books appeared as common media of knowledge transmissions, teaching has been practiced as a classroom activity consisting of chalk and talk interplay. The advent of new tools and technologies over the decades – usually termed as educational technology have helped teachers in enhancing learning experience. However each of these tools are physical in nature and did not extended the reach of class outside class hours. The educational process happens in real-world constrained by time and distance.

Now we are living in Link-AGE. Since the advent of the Internet in 90’s and its more refined form WWW later has created a new learning order. The link-age is realized by two fundamental technologies: computer and communication networks, resulting in WWW. WWW is an information space powered by hyperlinks. These hyperlinks not only enable us to connect everything on the web to each other, but also make it possible to edit, publish and comment on such published items in this information space.

Teaching in this information space or teaching in this linked environment is a new challenge to teaching fraternity.

Winning With Web: Link Base: You Are What Your Links Are.

2010-10-31T13:23:00.000+05:30

Winning With Web: Link Base: You Are What Your Links Are.: "We live in a link age The information space unleashed by the computing networks has become our new abode or learning habitat. In this space ..."

Winning With Web: Developing a Teacher’s Linkbase

2010-10-31T13:22:00.000+05:30

Winning With Web: Developing a Teacher’s Linkbase: "The teacher in a linked world must establish a web presence and make it known to all concerned. A Teacher’s web presence can be as simple as..."

Java Programming Home Page

2010-09-12T18:49:00.000+05:30

Java Programming - CS401 via kwout

Discrete Mathematical Structures Course Home Page

2010-09-12T18:44:00.000+05:30

Discrete Mathematical Structures via kwout

eSikshak from C-DAC

2010-07-26T12:00:00.001+05:30

eSikshak is a multilingual e-learning framework developed by C-DAC Hyderabad and is built on component based architecture. Currently, the framework is being used by many Indian as well as International academic/training institutes apart from CDAC. The Tool has been evolved into next generation e-Learning framework with latest updations. C-DAC is keen to provided eSikshak tool to the interested organizations with attractive business package. For more information you may visit

http://cadchyd.in/products/e-sikshak

Classroom Posters

2010-06-25T08:35:00.000+05:30

Picture speak better than words. Posters are pictures. Want to help out students and colleagues with handy tips on improving search results and using popular Google products like Google Earth? Just print out these posters and hang them where everyone can see them.

Google For Educators via kwout

Google Doc Editor now converts PDF into editable

2010-06-23T10:36:00.003+05:30

Google’s web-based document editor can now convert the text inside your PDFs and images into text you can edit. When you upload a file to Google Docs, you’ll see the option to “Convert text from PDF or image files to Google Docs documents.” You can upload any PDF, PNG, JPG or GIF. More on this is here

Schoology: Web-Based Learning Management System

2010-06-23T10:24:00.002+05:30

Schoology is a free web-based learning management system (LMS) built on a social network. Schoology leverages the familiarity of popular social media tools to improve communication and collaboration.

Schoology provides an enterprise level platform for individuals, schools, and districts free of charge, allowing institutions to focus on introducing new technologies rather than being limited by budget constraints.

Here is a wikipedia entry on schoology

An open source Project Managment Tool

2010-06-18T10:09:00.002+05:30

As a faculty of engineering college, we need to manage student projects. An academic project lasts for any thing between one to two semester. Using a project management tool is recommened. Here is one tool I plan to use in coming semester.

dotProject is a volunteer supported Project Management application. There is no "company" behind this project, it is managed, maintained, developed and supported by a volunteer group and by the users themselves. It is available for download here

http://www.dotproject.net/

Mathswords: A graphical view maths formulae

2010-06-04T16:50:00.001+05:30

Mathamatics is an interesting subject. However, it consists for formulae and equations which make learning it difficult for many. Here is a web site Mathsword.com which provides pictorial presentation of maths elements
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Mathwords via kwout

Principles of Good Teaching Practice

2010-06-04T15:28:00.000+05:30

In March 1987, the American Association of Higher Education first published "Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." These seven principles are a meta-analysis of 50 years of research on good teaching principles by Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson. These principles apply to teaching and learning in any environment. Here is the list of seven teaching practices

Web Tools for Young Learners

2010-06-04T09:16:00.000+05:30

Web resources have no one group of people as targets. They contain resources for every one. The veritable web offers a range of tools for young learners. Locating and using tools for teaching young may be time consuming task. It needs commitment of one's time and resources. However here is a handy list of 10 most useful tools for young learners by Özge Karaoğlu.

Web Tools for Researchers: Checking Plagiarism

2010-05-21T11:42:00.002+05:30

According to wikipedia, Plagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work."Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud, and offenders are subject to academic censure, up to and including expulsion.
Engineering students and researchers must take care to make their work original. With the advent of Internet and free access to literature, researchers may often knowingly or unknowingly commits such mistakes which might be considered "plagiarism". Here are some tools to avoid it.

http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/ptools/

http://turnitin.com/static/index.html

Understanding Words: Gateway to Knowledge.

2010-05-19T10:23:00.002+05:30

Understanding words is the first step towards acquiring knowledge. Here are two good dictionaries to begin your knowledge voyage

AllWords

Dictionary

Education and the WWW

2010-05-18T19:31:00.001+05:30

Since its inception the WWW has been closely associated with education. Many of the components those have powered web and powering it today have had their origin in the educational settings. In fact the web world was heralded in CERN, an European research lab. The first really effective, easy to use Web browser, also called Mosaic was developed in National Centre for Supercomputing Applications(NCSA) based at University of Illinois. And one of the most successful web venture and powerful search engine Google was conceived and developed at Stanford University. Thus the web and education are closely intervened. No wonder there have been lot of efforts in harnessing web and its resources for educational goals. In this blog I shall be covering the history, evolution of this phenomenon. I shall also discovering tools for educational use.

Other Google Search Engines: Google Book Search

2010-05-09T16:04:00.000+05:30

Google is the gateway to web search. Although it general search engine is well known, Google has some specific search engines to meet specific needs. One such engine is Google Book Search . This especially useful for teachers, learners and researchers"

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Google Books via kwout

A Multi-purpose Drawing Tool

2010-05-03T10:36:00.007+05:30

As part of learning and teaching, we need to draw figures. These figures may be needed to explain something in clear terms or capture thoughts in a communicable manner. Such figure also needs to be shared with others. Here is one web tool draw.to to meet such needs

draw.to — Draw something and share it! via kwout

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User can literally get on the site and draw a picture immediately. Usual web site requirements such as sign-up or registration are not needed. It is easy to share your drawings by email, instant messaging, facebook and others. You are also able to embed your drawing into your blog site. I would imagine teachers and students alike would find many uses for this in the classroom for projects, etc.
Suggested uses:

Faculty can use it to draw a diagram instantly while discussing a point and share it with others
Student project batch members can use to clarify thoughts while discussing a solution

Single Workflow To Make use of Web-Based Teaching Tools- Part -1

2010-04-26T11:08:00.000+05:30

There are umpteen teaching resources and tools out there on the web, it is kind of a tough to figure out how to make use of them all. In looking at how I am using these tools myself in my teaching, I put together the following little process to incorporate many of these web-based tools for learning and teaching into a single work flow.

Teaching a course is a process that starts with announcement and sharing of course syllabus with target student audience. ( Sometimes it may start with designing a new curriculum,in that case here is an example of curriculum source to help you design a new course). Web is a place to establish online presence or a course home page and a common meeting point for students and faculty look it up any blogging service. Blogger is my current blogging system of choice, but some other popular choices include Wordpress. Here is an example of course home page that I have set up for the Service Oriented Architecture(SOA) course that I am currently teaching at SDMCET, India.

Then next task is to share a course syllabus and course outline online. Google docs is all about creating, editing, sharing and publishing documents, so it is a good place to start looking for, but you are hardly limited to Google docs, any online document publishing system do the trick. Here is an example of course syllabus and course outline created using web resource and shared with student group.Once the course home page is created as shown above, you can add additional resource links for your students. Try to make use of whatever feature blogs offer to enhance usability and add appeal of course home page. For instance blogs allow user from home page to add links to other online sources. For instance, course syllabus can be illustrated with use of eyeplorer related terms and shared as follows.

I shall cover other web teaching tools in forthcoming post.

Teaching: A Process View : Explained

2010-04-15T15:14:00.002+05:30

Teaching: A Process View

Taking “process view” is the first step in using web tools for teaching. The process view of teaching helps us identify its different phases- and resulting activities. Once these activities are identified each one of them can be mapped into appropriate web tools (Ex. Discovering can be done using search tools etc)

If you ask the question "what is teaching" or “what does teaching consist of “to a score of teachers, you will get more than a score of answers. This is because teaching is still considered as an "individual" activity and as such that its definition is usually a subjective one. Prescribing a web teaching tool in such occasion for each teacher becomes practically impossible. Science and technology have made great progress by taking "system" and "process" view of phenomenon they address. For example, a software engineer no more takes "software development " as an individual activity of a group of programmers. Instead, it is seen as a process usually termed as "system development life cycle (SLDC)". Such a "process" view enables us to see a phenomenon such as teaching with a definite beginning, and definite end and consisting of discreet set of activities in between. There are certain advantages in taking process view of teaching. For this reason, we define teaching as follows.

Teaching is a process that converts outside resources, namely knowledge into out side results, name learning deliverable

Example: A teacher uses a text book outside knowledge) and converts into a Lecture (learning deliverable)

2. Teaching as a process: Advantages

When we view teaching as a process, it lends itself into different phases as follows.
"Teaching is a process that converts outside resources, namely knowledge into out side results, name learning deliverables.

Discovery phase: In this phase teacher must discover outside knowledge resources to be used for developing learning deliverables. The outside knowledge resource could be very general resource such as dictionary to very specialized, technical resources such as advanced statistics. It can also include curriculum design resources in case the teacher is expected to design a new curriculum as a course leader

Conversion Phase: The discovered knowledge must be converted into a form that can be used in teaching process. It can be lecture delivered, notes provided, supplementary material etc.

Learning Deliverables: The above phases represent preparation stages. However, actual teaching activity itself can take form of conducting class, lab session, tutorial and providing supplementary materials.

The idea underlying this process is to identify activities in each of these phases and to find a corresponding tool to enable i

3. Functions of Teaching

Teaching when viewed as a process consist of the following functions

1. Discovering: Discovering of outside knowledge required for teaching is the first and foremost function of any teaching process. If a teacher is designing a new course, then discovering curriculum standards is the first job. If he/she is given a course outline or syllabus then discovery is limited to locating pertinent learning resources such as text book, reference

2. Recovering: A teacher in service for sometime does not have to depend on outside knowledge every time. Over the time, he must have collected and organized teaching materials as notes, reference and any other convenient form for current and future use. The process of locating such previously procured, processed and organized information is called recovering. Some of examples are notes used in previous classes, lesson plans, quizzes etc. They can be stored in files or in personal or institutional computer system. In practice, a teacher usually uses a combination of recovering and discovering process in teaching. Tools used for locating and retrieving previously stored information are called recovering tools. Desktop search engines is one example of a recovery tool

3. Procuring: Discovered resources must be procured. This might mean mere downloading to subscribing or even buying those resources

4. Organizing: Procured resources must be organized into different desired forms such as class material, reference material, assignment material etc.

5. Authoring: This is stage in which a teacher has to convert procured, organized material into learning deliverables. These include lecture, presentations, assignments, course description etc

6. Communicating: In this stage, a teacher conducts a class, delivers a lecture, supervise a laboratory session. Each of these represent different kind of communication with learners or students

7. Collaborating: This happens when faculty is handling a common course with a couple of other teachers. For instance a programming course in engineering college.

8. Publishing: This may not be applicable to all teachers at all time.

9. Sharing : with students and others

10. Review and Evaluation: Reviewing and evaluation are integral part of any teaching process. They can take many forms including tests, quizzes, assessments, semester end examination etc.

These phases comprehensively cover all aspects of a teaching process

4. Learning Deliverables

Learning deliverable is to teacher what products/service is for a business. They are the proof of teacher’s work; their quality builds reputation to the teacher, their acceptance or rejection by learner/students determines the standing of the teacher.

Learning deliverables generally consists of information and insight. Some of common learning deliverables are

Lecture delivery
Lecture Notes, handouts, presentations, manual etc
Presentation
Audio/Video recording of class delivery

Summary:

In this write up, we considered a process view of teaching and identified its different phases. Each of these phases lends itself into activities and each activity can be mapped into a web tool. We also identified learning deliverables- the proof of teaching process.

Teaching: A Process View

2010-04-14T11:25:00.000+05:30

If you ask the question " what is teaching" to a score of teachers, you will get more than a score of answers. This is because teaching is still considered as an "individual" activity and as such that its definition is usually a subjective one. Prescribing teaching tool in such occasion for each teacher becomes practically impossible. Science and technology have made great progress by taking "system" and "process" view of phenomenon they address. For example, a software engineer no more takes "software development " as an individual activity of a group of programmers. Instead, it is seen as a process usually termed as " system development life cycle ( SLDC)". Such a "process" view enables us to see a phenomenon such as teaching with a definite beginning, and definite end and consisting of discreet set of activities in between. There are certain advantages in taking process view of teaching. For this reason, we define teaching as follows.

Teaching is a process that converts outside resources, namely knowledge into out side results, name learning deliverables.

WTLT 105: Designing a New Curriculum: Using Curriculum Search

2010-04-14T10:29:00.000+05:30

Teaching a course is a regular job of a teacher. Most of the time the course is given to him/her. However, as one progresses in career ladder in teaching, sooner or later he reaches a position where in he/she may have to take up the position of course leader for a new program. In that role designing a new area of curriculum poses a challenge. It may also happen that the institution where he/she working may switchover from university affiliated to autonmous mode as in case of TEQIP supported technical institutions in India. Autonomous institutions are required to design, develop and deploy their own curriculum.
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Curriculum Search - Google Code University - Google Code via kwout

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Web contains many resouces for the teacher or group of teachers in charge of design a new curriculum.some of the web resouces available for computer science and engineering domain include Curriculum search (shown in above figure) and ACM Curriculum Recommendation

Prezi: An Online presentation Tool

2010-04-06T12:10:00.000+05:30

Making presentation to select or general audience is becoming a necessity for most of us. Either we are students or professional learning how to make presentation is a must. Web today has many tools for helping us make interesting and impressive presentation. One of the online presentation tools that I have been recently refered is prezi. It is a very interesting tool that not only helps you create presentations but also publish and share them. In addition user can also have provision of editing presentation offline. A sample of online presenation is available as showcase. Basic features of Prezi are available free. However for advanced or power user, premium feature are available at additional cost. Prezi is worth looking tool for your presentation needs.

(This tool was brought to my notice by Jeevan Dongre, Thanks Jeevan)

WTLT 104: Researching for Results: Where to start

2010-03-25T14:36:00.003+05:30

Researching to be effective may benefit from starting from wikipedia- a well known collaborative knowledge base. It is universal in it appeal and covers virtually every subject. It is a very easy-to-use, beginner level information resource. In researching for a topic on the web, it is helpful get a overview of the topic, and no source is better than wikipedia in this aspect.

Wikipedia via kwout

A wikipedia information entry on a topic starts with an introduction which provides a neat description and related and associated terms. After brief reading of the introduction section it organizes information into sections. Researcher can go to any particular section of her choice. It ends with a list of reference and other pointers which researcher can consult for further reference. This format of wikipedia provides very good starting point for information search on the web

WTLT 103: Searching, Researching and Discovering on the Web

2010-03-25T12:15:00.003+05:30

Web is a multi-dimensional resource. Many things can be happen on that. Individual and institutions may publish on ( web site, blog) do a number of other things. However from a STUDENT ( lay persons) perspective web is a general resource that must be taken note of. Student must develop a right kind of understanding and attitude towards web. He must regard web as a constant companion. From this perspective all that a student can do on the web is: finding out resources that are relevant to his immediate work. This process of locating resource on the web is termed differently as searching, researching and discovering. All these terms mean the same: finding out right resource for right purpose at right time with adequate efforts. Among these terms Researching and Discovering are preferable. Searching is done by crawlers who build index based on what they find on the web. A user such as student or a lay person, when uses a search engine only finds it for the second time- ( re- searches) or discovers. Discovery also implies the meaning that when you discover something you have found out something which was already there which you did not know. Columbus discovered America in 1492. So Researching and discovering always means finding out something for which searching was done by someone else before.

WTLT102: Visual Search Using Search- Cube

2010-03-22T17:04:00.006+05:30

Web searching can be approached from different perspectives. Here is one interesting approach.
search-cube is a visual search engine that presents web search results in a unique, three-dimensional cube interface. It shows previews of up to ninety-six websites, videos and images.

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search-cube - the Visual Search Engine via kwout

Once your search results appear, you can use the arrow keys, the SHIFT key and the mouse to interact with your search-cube.

101: Web Searching : The Tabular way by Spezify

2010-03-22T15:31:00.003+05:30

Major problem with general search engines is that they list results in a linear way. The results are displayed as text links. However sometimes it is better from user perspective to have search results in graphical or tabular format. This is what provided by a new search engine Spezify

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Spezify via kwout

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when you enter the keyword or search phrase in the box, it provides results in a tabular format. Here is an example in which I used spezify to search the key phrase " Web tools"

Custom search engine: A way to do focussed search

2010-03-12T21:23:00.007+05:30

While Google index becomes bigger by the day, its search engine results (SERP) becomes longer. However, a user may not be interested in going through all search results. In fact he may not be interested in searching entire web at all. There is a special to for setting up and searching within a specified set of URL's. It is called Custom search Engine. The Google custom search engine(CSE) can be created here.
There are many academic applications for custom search engine. A teacher may create a CSE to search within a specified web sites related to a course. For instance I have created a custom search engine, web teaching tool search. This searches for a teaching tool within about 10 well know nweb sites. Other examples of CSE include the following

Lesson Plan search
PPT search Engine

Wallwisher: A Place to post Notices

2010-03-09T21:29:00.002+05:30

As a teacher you have occasions where in you would like to share some information with students and also seek their comments and feedback on some issues. Wallwisher is the right tool for you to use. For many situations that arise in the academic context- such as arranging for extra class or seeking opinion on conducting a event or willingness to join a picnic group- Wall wisher is the best tool. Here is one I have created to share some interesting information with my students.

Ravindra Dastikop Wall

Search Engine Suite for Academic Community

2010-02-14T12:21:00.003+05:30

Search has become an important activity in academic environment. Be it a faculty or a student occasions for search are increasing in a normal working day. Global search engines do meet their information needs. However, with global search engines the problem is results are too numerous, heterogeneous etc. Some times faculty or a students need to search for a particular type of information resource say a PPT or doc or PDF. Going through excessively large outputs of search engine is many a times is consuming and end up in naught. Here is a suite of search engines that help user to search for a particular type of document.

Academic Search

Alice: A 3D tool for teaching Programming Course

2010-01-31T13:07:00.003+05:30

Teaching an introductory a course in programming poses a challenge. Here is tool that is expected to make this challenge simpler. Alice is a teaching tool designed as a revolutionary approach to teaching and learning introductory programming concepts. The Alice team has developed instructional materials to support students and teachers in using this new approach. Resources include textbooks, lessons, sample syllabuses, test banks, and more. Other authors have generously joined our efforts, creating additional textbooks. You may visit the following URL for more details http://www.alice.org

Teaching Uses of Google Docs

2010-01-24T13:34:00.006+05:30

Google docs is a service provided by Google for creation and management of online docs. Online docs are documents created, stored, and shared on the web. Online line docs come as a very useful tool for teacher who wish to share learning resources with learners. Here are some ways in which I have been using online docs in my teaching.

Sharing syllabus with students: In an autonomous institution like ours, where we have the freedom to design and deliver curriculum, online docs becomes a great way to share syllabus online both with students and other colleagues. In the recent course, I used this feature to share my syllabus with my students as this
Sharing question banks with learners: A course bank servers as good tool to direct learning efforts of students. A comprehensive question bank is a good learning resource for students. Here is an example of one I created and shared with my students
Using online docs to allow students to answer questionnaire and share the same with all: An online doc can also be used to send a common set of questions to all students, get their answers and share it with all others. A teacher may also add her remarks in the online docs for students. Here is an example.

Blogging Options for educational Use

2010-01-23T10:03:00.007+05:30

Blogger is a general purpose tool. Blogging is a means of publishing on the web. Using of blogs for various purposes is increasing in recent years with the availability of networks and free blogging tools. Individuals, institutions and even governments are using blogging as a means to expand their reach and service ranges. Teachers can also use blogging as a effective means to support thier existing teaching system.

For instance, a teacher may a blog as a course home as this. or he may use it as an interface to share certain learning resources such as presentations. One of other uses of blogging is to provide a set of questions and answers related to a course as this. A teacher may also use blog to publish class summary after completing her class. This will help students to check if he/she has followed everything rightly.

I encourage teachers to actively take up blogging initially as a additional medium to reach your students. You may start just with a simple blog.

Available blogging systems:

If you ever decide to use blogging as part of teaching, you may consider the following blogging systems

Blogger

Typepad

Wordpress

A Neat Tool for Freehand Drawing

2010-01-22T17:31:00.004+05:30

Drawings and diagrams are part of teaching and learning. Here is very handy tool ImaginationCubed for learners and teachers. This provides an easy way to draw pictures and also add text to them It has a very simple web user interface. It provides a pen to draw pictures in a free mode and additional tools for editing.

Imagination Cubed via kwout

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What is more interesting is that this also allows user to Save drawing and also send them to others and her email accounts. It is also possible to invite friends and draw jointly. It is a great tools for teachers and also students of any age group. Visit here and enjoy drawing

Imaginationcubed

Discovery Tools: Search Engines

2010-01-15T14:23:00.003+05:30

Our process approach to teaching identified discovering as the first function of the teacher.Discovering is process in which teacher searches for and locates sources and resources that he or she can be used in creating learning resources. If a teacher is given with a syllabus of a course, then his search includes finding relevant material for topics covered under the course. Or he may even search for a lesson plan or text books. Today in the connected world, search has become the prominent interface to the wonderful world of resources usually called as the web. Search engines help us in getting links to those resources that might meet our information needs.

Although there are more than 1000 search engines offering services some of the generally used search engines include Google, Bing.

Using Search engines for discovering information on the web
The first thing to do is the go to home page of search engine by typing its URL on browser.
http://google.com/ or http://bing.com/

Google via kwout

Using Eyeplorer to generate all related term in a course

2010-01-12T17:20:00.005+05:30

In this earlier post, I had mentioned about a graphical knowledge engine, Eyeplorer. In this post I shall describe you with an example, how a teacher can use the same to generate all key terms related to a course and share that with his students.

In my college, SDMCET, Dharwad In the forthcoming semester, I will be teaching a course titled " Service Oriented Architecture" also abbreviated as SOA. Using the term " Service Oriented Architecture" in Eyeplorer, I have generated a set of related terms. I have added a dynamic link to this. You may see this on the course home page.

Service oriented Architecture

Using Eyeplore to Research and study a topic

2010-01-10T16:49:00.006+05:30

General Search engines such as Google provide a grand way to get information on the web. They provide user with a list of search results arranged in a sequence. It is difficult for a user to relate those set of results. Eyeplorer provides a graphical way of arranging related terms. When you go its home page, user is given with a page where he can insert search term say "cloud computing" or " service oriented architecture. The service derives data- all links and related keywords from wikipedia arranges them in a circle. Each term is a hyperlink. In addition to this display, it also allows user to copy from this displayed contents and make notes and save it for future use.

eyePlorer.com via kwout

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Teaching Uses of Eyeplorer.

Teacher can use this to explore a new topic and find out related terms. For instance, when I began my teaching studies for a service oriented archietecture course recently, I used this service to find out more terms and how they are related.

Student Uses:

Student can use in many ways. For instance, if they are preparing for a seminar, then the topic can used as "key word" to find all related terms and concepts. This in turn will help him/her to expand/limit scope of seminar topic

Posterous: Blogging by email

2010-01-02T08:46:00.003+05:30

There is no limit for imaginative products and solutions on the web. Probably web has become the most innovative and at same time most visible place in the world. Here is an interesting tool called posterous.

We are (at least some of us) all used for blogging. Blogging gives us a medium to express our thoughts, share our ideas and also conduct many more things. In order to use a blog, one has to login to service provider such as blogger or wordpress and edit the blog matter and finally post it. Al though this is a very simple and straightforward way to blog, posterous provides a still simpler way to do that. You need not go to service provider's web site, login and post. You can simply send a email - containing the matter to be posted and rest is taken care by it. It is very useful tool and a great way to blog on posterous. Here is an example of a blog post on it

DabbleDB: Create and Maintain database Online

2010-01-01T10:30:00.004+05:30

We live in a data driven age. Each of our decision or move or action needs some data to decide next course of action. And in addition each action of ours generates data to be collected and preserved for future use and analysis. Database is a software that allows to create and maintain databases for many purposes. Today there are many online or web database tools available free, trial and paid basis. One of such web database tool is DabbleDB. Some of the suggested uses of online database are

A teacher may use it to maintain a list of students and alumni
A teacher may use it to list and publish useful resources
A teacher use it to teach basic operations in a database course

DabbleDB allows user to create and maintain databases online. In addition it also allows the owner to share database and other privilages such as editing with others.

2009-12-28T08:17:00.001+05:30

I am experiementing with using web tools in enriching teaching process. Here is a blog where I list my experience http://ping.fm/j2kt7

Search Skill Imperative

2009-12-26T20:29:00.002+05:30

Information has become the cornerstone of modern enterprise. And the web has become the largest and most accessible information resource. The ability to gather, arrange, and manipulate information with computers has given layman and as well as for business people new tools for managing.

Information has become the structural element and building block in creating new products and services. The sources of the information are so diverse, and sifting through and interpreting it for a specific business are so difficult, that even small companies will need help from data specialists. The success of an individual and as well as enterprise, even its survival almost entirely depends on its ability to harness information resources. To manage in the future, managers will need an information tools integrated with strategy. An individual's information skill set must include ability to identify, locate, procure and deploy information for personal and professional productivity. Searching is the most basic of all web skills required

Four ways to Use Web Tools for Teaching

2009-12-20T14:12:00.006+05:30

Before using anything new or different, we must justify its use. Using web tools in teaching is no exception. Hence I list some of the reasons for using them.

Tools simplify our work and amplify our efforts: One of the reason for using tool be it a web tool or any other is that it simplifies our work and also makes it easier and neat. Using a scissor for cutting paper necessarily produces neatly cut pieces than one done with mere hands. In a similar manner web tools such as online docs make our work of creating, maintaining and publishing much simpler and productive
Tools are force multiplier: Web is 24/7 available resources. When web tools are used in teaching, they make teacher available and resources accessible to learners beyond classroom time and from outside of college computing services. A lesson posted on a blog such as this is accessible to students from anywhere as long as he/she has access to Internet. Tools such as groups and wikis help them have discussions happen anytime.
Tools broaden base of learning resources: Web tools such as search engines and wikipedia broaden the base of learning resource available and accessible to students. Instead of limiting their resource work to college/school library they can access web resources.
Use of tools by teacher prompts use of tools by students: Students learn by examples. When a teacher starts using a tool, such as groups for teaching process, students may find different uses for the same tools. For instance, when I started using a group to support course with the help of a group , students realised its potential and created a group to support campus placement activity

So using tools help teaching directly and students indirectly

Functions of Teaching

2009-12-19T17:08:00.003+05:30

Teaching when viewed as a process consist of the following functions

Discovering: Discovering of outside knowledge required for teaching is the first and foremost function of any teaching process. If a teacher is designing a new course, then discovering curriculum standards is the first job. If he/she is given a course outline or syllabus then discovery is limited to locating pertinent learning resources such as text book, reference
Procuring: Discovered resources must be procured. This might mean mere downloading to subscribing or even buying those resources
Organizing: Procured resources must be organized into different desired forms such as class material, reference material, assignment material etc.
Authoring: This is stage in which a teacher has to convert procured, organized material into learning deliverables. These include lecture, presentations, assignments, course description etc
Communicating: In this stage, a teacher conducts a class, delivers a lecture, supervise a laboratory session. Each of these represent different kind of communication with learners or students
Collaborating: This happens when faculty is handling a common course with a couple of other teachers. For instance a programming course in engineering college.
Publishing: This may not be applicable to all teachers at all time.

These phases comprehensively cover all aspects of a teaching process

Web Tools For Teaching

2009-12-18T14:50:00.001+05:30

Web is a source of immense resources and tools. Web has a huge repository of general purpose and special purpose tools. Since its inception it is increasingly becoming an attractive resource for teachers. At the same time web is a source of resources and also a platform for communication and collaboration. Teaching with web resources in mind is an advantage. Using web resource for educational purposes has begun since the early days of the web. The fact that web had its beginnings in the educational setting makes it still more relevant to be harnessed for educational purposes in general and teaching purposes in particular

Teaching as a process: Advantages

2009-12-17T21:38:00.006+05:30

In an earlier post we took a process view of teaching. When we view teaching as a process, it lends itself into different phases as follows.

"Teaching is a process that converts outside resources, namely knowledge into out side results, name learning deliverables.

Discovery phase: In this phase teacher must discover outside knowledge resources to be used for developing learning deliverables. The outside knowledge resource could be very general resource such as dictionary to very specialised, technical resources such as advanced statistics. It can also include
Conversion Phase: The discovered knowledge must be converted into a form that can be used in teaching process. It can be lecture delivered, notes provided, supplementary material etc.
Learning Deliverables: The above phases represent preparation stages. However, actual teaching activity itself can take form of conducting class, lab session, tutorial and providing supplementary materials.

The idea is to now identify activities in each of these phases and to find a corresponding tool to enable it

Web Authoring Tools

2009-12-15T12:17:00.007+05:30

Writing is an essential ingredient of academic process. In real world academics, writing can take various forms such as books,articles,papers, assignments, term paper to name the few. The term used to indicate writing is authoring. An author is one who writes and submits or publishes.

Web provides a range of tools for academic writing and they can be called authoring tools. Increasingly web forms of authoring or content creation are being used to support student's learning in various levels of education including higher education. Here is an example. Some of the web tools used for content creation include blogging /microblogging, audio/video podcasting, social book marking, social networking, virtual worlds, wiki writing. Some of the well known tools or services in this space include Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, second Life, Delicious, facebook and MediaWiki Any of the above tools can be harnessed by student/teacher in their authoring process. These tools make them independent and they need not rely on the online learning infrastructure provided by their educational institutions. Using them is limited only the imagnination of the user. The future post will cover each of these tools and how to use them.

Sharing Learning Resources

2009-12-08T12:15:00.004+05:30

As a teacher you may have to share learning resources and supplementary materials with learners. There are many ways to achieve this. For instance,

Files can be uploaded in a Group such as this
A document can be shared with a number of collaborators using Google Docs

However to access these resources one has to be a member of the group or the author must give access permission deliberately to collaborate sharing of files. But in practice there are ocassions in which you may have to share a file or resource onetime only or with a person who is not part of a group.

In such ocassions, drop.io provides a simple way to share files with anyone. Here is an example wherein I share a course syllabus with my students

Sharing files on drop.io

Using Online Groups for Managing a Student Project

2009-12-07T17:01:00.009+05:30

Online Groups are handy tools for creating a community and maintaining conversations. They can come in all sizes and varied purposes. Earlier post had discussed on how a faculty can use group to support his classroom teaching. Even a student project batch that have just 4 or more students can make use of group as a common point of meeting for reporting progress and monitoring. Here is an example.

Some time back, one of our alumnus came forward to suggest student project and also agreed to mentor them during the course of project. Our alumnus works for an MNC and is based in another continent, meaning we have a time difference challenges in communicating with him. As a result we all agreed to create a Project group on Google group, invited all student members, local project guide and our alumnus to be the member of this group. For the past six months, communications are turning out be useful and student project members are learning a lot through conversations done in the group. While groups help us communicate and take benefit from distant expertise, students are also learning a new tool first hand.

Using Online Group for Student Academic Projects

2009-12-06T15:39:00.002+05:30

Using Online Groups in Teaching

2009-12-06T12:32:00.003+05:30

In a traditional setting a teacher meets students in a classroom at an appointed time, delivers lectures and any such learning activity and at the end of class both students and teacher disappear into their own worlds. Until next appointed class, they do not meet each other barring few exceptions. This was due the fact that no more communication is possible outside of classroom unless both teacher and students are gathered together again. In other words time and distance constraints limited the interaction possibilities between learners and teachers outside of class room. However with the advent of web, there are many tools that help teacher and students be accessible to each other round the clock.

Online Groups are one such tool that helps a teacher to create a place of meeting for his students and communicate with them. Two of the most popular tools that are available for a teacher to create groups are Google Groups and Yahoo Groups. These tools help teacher to connect with his students and share discussions, conversation with them.

How I am using group in my teaching.
Last semester, I was teaching a course titled " Management and Entrepreneurship". Among other other tools, I also used Group to create a community of all 150+ students and invited them to join the same. Once created, I used the group for sharing and updating information with them. The group was used as a common point for raising questions, making announcements such as tests, quizzes etc.
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Managementandentrepreneurship Google Groups via kwout

Teaching Realities: Knowledge is an outside resource

2009-12-02T19:00:00.012+05:30

Teaching is from first to last is about knowledge. Teaching is concerned with acquiring knowledge, organizing it into learning deliverable. In a sense, teaching can be defined as a process that converts outside knowledge into outside results namely learning deliverable. Knowledge is a universal social resource. Teacher must procure it before it can be used in teaching. What makes a teacher distinct and what is his/her peculiar resource is his ability to use knowledge of all kinds- from academic, scientific and technical knowledge to social, economic and teaching knowledge. It is only in respect to knowledge that a teacher can be distinct, can therefore produce something namely learning deliverable that has a value in an educational market. However, knowledge is a universal resource and is always outside of a teacher. The implication of this reality for a teacher is that he/she must always develop a system for locating, procuring and using outside knowledge for teaching purpose. There fore the first job of a teacher is discovering knowledge that can be converted into learning deliverable in his context. In the networked and information-rich world in which we are living the discovering of outside knowledge is through search engines and mastering the art of internet search strategies is a survial skill for any teacher.

WTLT#09: Teaching with web-based resources in mind

2009-11-29T12:09:00.000+05:30

Web-based teaching is an idea whose time has come. Proliferation of web resources and the advent of web 2.0 technologies have encouraged a paradigm shift towards adopting a more open teaching approach. Today we have all the resources on the web for the successful practice of web-based teaching. By web-based teaching we mean the harnessing of web resources for enhancing the entire process of teaching: curriculum design to course content generation to end of the course evaluation.

WTLT: Web Tools for Teaching and Learning: Preamble

2009-11-14T20:33:00.001+05:30

Today we have enough resources on the web for successful practice of web teaching. By web teaching I mean harnessing web resources in entire process of teaching life cycle. The web has eliminated the three traditional barriers: Time, distance and language. These newly gained liberty i a boon for teachersbecause it enables them to reach out to global resources on the one side and student community spread around the world on the other and integrate them seamlessly.

In this blog I shall be chronicling my experiments in locating, exploring and integrating web resources into my teaching process

Cloud Computing and Teaching

2009-07-15T09:47:00.002+05:30

Ever since its inception web has been a veritable resource for teaching community. In its early stages when it was popularly known as Internet academic community was using for communication, community setting and file transfer purposes. With the advent of web technologies and more recently of services such as online docs, wiki and many more the usefulness of web has increased in the context of teaching. There are many examples where in people have been using web tools such blog to conduct courses online or supplement their classroom teaching.

The current trend towards cloud computing is expected to give further boost in this direction making web a even more useful resource for teaching. The cloud computing promises to make web the home of all computing resources and allow user to avail on retail basis. This approach which is already revolutionizing the business world has similar potential to transform teaching. There are already examples where in a teacher has combined cloud resources in creative manner to offer course on the web. As in the case of business, the limits are imposed only our imagination

Cloud Computing : Definitions

2009-07-14T23:22:00.000+05:30

Cloud computing is a service that stores, retrieves and manipulates data over the Internet on remote servers run by firms such as Google, Cisco, IBM and others, utilizing excess or unused resources of several computers without requiring

Cloud Technologies for Educaton: A Preamble

2009-07-14T08:08:00.001+05:30

Periodically , technological advances have changed the pace and shape of every human endeavor. Education is no exception. The process of Education has been radically affected and hugely benefited by continuously changing technological advances. For instance, the invention of printing press and the consequent ability to produce books in large numbers created new way of organizing education and determined the structure of university. The ability of network technologies to collect data from anywhere on the net and their ability to deliver the same anywhere on the network has tremendous potential in augmenting the educational or teaching process.Efforts by various agencies both business and otherwise have created wealth of resources on the web that can be exploited for transforming teaching process. Today web has become a blackboard. Web's basic value proposition is connectivity and content, Both of these values have direct implications and immediate uses in teaching. Connectivity allows a teacher to get connected to and retain connections with learners beyond the walls for traditional class rooms. Content of web has an enriching impact and true potential for transforming entire teaching experience. Content on the web can used directly, customised to meet one's class needs or can be augmented. In effect we have today all the resources on the web for successful practice of web-based teaching of e-learning. In this blog paper we present our experience in using cloud Technologies technologies in teaching.

What are cloud technologies?

MOODLE: An Integrated Information System for Teachers

2009-07-08T21:33:00.004+05:30

Information is the life of enterprises. Information systems are the life line of enterprises. Information systems have played a crucial roles in running of the modern organizations. An information system is essentially concerned with gathering, processing , storing and sharing information with a number of stake holders. For instance, material management system is concerned with timely supply of production materials while maintaining the adequate level of stocks.

Information system are also required for the effective running of educational institutions. However there are two distinct types of information systems needed. First kind of information is needed to maintain institutional data such as admission process, faculty details etc. The second kind of information system is required by the faculty to run their courses. Such information systems that help a faculty to manage the entire process of course - enrolment, course delivery, assessment and other related activities is called an content management system or CMS. They are called so because they are centred around the content developed by the faculty. Some of the well known systems commercially available in this category include WebCT and Blackboard.

But are the days of open source. The Open source community has been very active in the past years to come out with products that have been historically reigned by commercial products.

Content Management system (CMS) space is no exception. MOODLE is an open source content management system. In fact it is much more than mere CMS. It is a complete e-learning system. Dedicated volunteers and some devoted enthusiasts have made MOODLE comparable with commercial products both in features and performance. Thousands of institutions- universities, schools, even freelancer have adopted MOODLE into their working. For more information visit here

Teaching @ the speed of thought

2009-06-16T22:29:00.006+05:30

Teaching is an interactive phenomenon in which a teachers shares his knowledge experience with students. Traditional teaching come to mean face to face, real-time interaction between students and teacher.

The essential feature of teaching is exchange of knowledge. Face to face teaching has been followed because in real physical world, because that is the only option available: Learner and teacher must be in the classroom for teaching to happen. However with the advent of web 2.0 technologies, face to face requirement of teaching can be eliminated altogether or at least be minimized. Web 2.0 technologies have made web a communication,interaction, collaboration platform that is available and accessible on 24/7.

The practical implication is that web becomes a classroom that is always open- both for teacher and students. This facilitates teacher to teach at the speed of thought.

Teaching Management Systems

2009-05-10T08:10:00.004+05:30

Preparing for teaching a college course consists of a number of steps - a teaching life cycle. This consists of

Meeting Curriculum needs- general search, custom search and alert services
Meeting content needs- find, locate, procure and organize
Composing deliverable- class -notes, lesson plans

Composing a Course

2009-05-10T07:47:00.003+05:30

Given a syllabus, the process of identifying, finding and locating, procuring and organizing the subject matter is called " Course composition". The end result of a course composing process are the following deliverable

Educational Uses of Web Translation Tools

2009-04-21T11:31:00.006+05:30

Web is a multi-lingual platform. And in addition web has good translation resources. Among other things, such as distance and time, language is also a barrier in taking education to greater masses. However the advent of web translation tools has dramatically increased the ability of teacher or educational institution to reach out to those students who do not follow lesson given in the language of instruction such as English. Using these translation tools a teacher can offer her teaching blogs written in one language in another language without much additional efforts. Almost all by teaching blogs have a provision to translate blog posting to language of their choice. For instance you may read this blog posting in hindi by using Translate button available on right hand panel.

WTLT#008: Web is a File Folder

2009-04-15T14:46:00.005+05:30

Blackboard is an integral part of classroom teaching. "Chalk and talk" is the phrase used to describe this. In a normal class, a teacher would enter the classroom and begin copying endless notes on the blackboard. The duty of students is to copy down teacher's blackboard notes without errors into notebook. To be sure some teachers did talk intermittently. However, later teachers started using teaching aids such as transparencies and OHP and once computers become part of classroom repository tools such as presentations became common and standard way of teaching. However, using such tools is a cumbersome procedure. One has to carry his/her (1) transparencies , (2) computers or (3) secondary media such as pen drives to class room and set them up before commencing a class session. Some malfunctioning a projector or a pen drive; or incompatibility among hardware/software caused difficulties such as delays or even cancellation of classes there by embarrassing the teacher. Now with the advent of online docs, one may be assured of overcoming such trifles. Here is an example Web and the Librarain

WTLT#007: Web Perspectives

2009-04-14T11:08:00.006+05:30

Web is a multi-dimensional entity. Each of its dimensions have educational implications. Let me list them.

Web is a platform:A platform is a place where an activity begins or process happens. For instance, railway station is a platform. It is a place where trains arrive or depart. Once you reach a platform, it opens up a new world of travel possibilities. One may use railway platform to a catch a train to travel to study or to work. Something similar is with web. It is a platform which opens up a new world of possibilities. These possibilities range from business to education to governance.
Web is a resource: By resource we mean anything that can be exploited for a purpose. For instance raw material is a resource that can be used production process. In a similar sense, web is resource of great variety. It has information of all kinds and in all formats.
Web is a media: Media is something that allows us to package our message and send it to desired destinations. Paper is a medium. TV is a medium. Web is a broader and wider media
Web is a repository of tools: A tool is a means that helps you achieve your goal. A scissor is a tool that allows you measured cuttings. Web is huge bank of tools that can be used for multi-purposes. For instance search engine is a web tool that allows you to discover information on the web
web is a communication means: Humans are social animals and communication is bedrock of human society. Web is probably the most powerful communication means invented yet. The communication possibilities on the web are limited only by human imagination

WTLT:#006: Learning and Teaching are but two sides of same coin

2009-04-11T16:20:00.003+05:30

Teaching and learning go hand in hand. Learning and teaching are but two sides of the same coin. Among other things, good teaching demands continued learning. A sustained good learning always ends up in some kind of teaching. (Mentoring is an example). To be sure, there is no completely teaching tools or completely learning tools. Every learning tool has a teaching side to it and every teaching tool has a learning side too. While using a teaching tool a teacher is always remains concerned about its learning effects, demands and benefits. By learning demands we mean any additional effort to be done by learner to make use of that tool effective. For instance a student must be well versed with online docs in case teacher is using them as part of her teaching process. In a similar way, every learner, while using a learning tool must consciously ponder over its teaching potentials. In other words, teaching and learning are not two separate activities although they are distinct ones. ( A class has to have two distinct groups learners and teacher). Therefore a better word to be used is either "teach-learn" or "learn teach"

Web Tools for Teaching: Search Engines

2009-04-09T21:03:00.000+05:30

Search engines are the most widely used resource discovery tools on the web. Both general and as well as professional user often depend on search engines for locating information they need. Although there are more than 1000 search engines active on the web, Google, Yahoo and MSN Live are the most widely used ones.

To discover information on the web using a search engine is a simple and straight forward activity. Users have to find a keyword that best describes their information need. For instance, suppose you are searching for information on "curriculum design" using google, you get a result page like this. On this page, it lists millions of links matching the keyword "Curriculum Design" Use can click on the first or any link to gather more information available. As an exercise you may search for key word " lesson plan" using Yahoo. You can compare your search with this

Educational uses of Web: Early Stages

2009-04-09T06:54:00.000+05:30

Educational community has always been proactive in using tools made available by new technologies. Even before the advent of the WWW, teachers were using tools such as gopher. With the advent of Mosaic browser, which was later given a commercial name Netscape Navigator, web browsing was made a simple and easy task for every one. This opened up a flood gate to a range of resources available to teaching community. In their paper, Advanced Educational Uses of the World-Wide-Web authors indicated two possible scenarios of using web in educational setting. Later in 2001, a paper published in CTDL proposed a new web based paradigm for teaching computer science

Since then there is plethora of efforts in using and integrating web resources in teaching. The advent of web 2.0 has made it only more intense. I shall be covering the same in future posts

Experiment 2: Using Web Tools for conducting Seminar on Project

2009-04-08T15:31:00.000+05:30

Background

Seminar on Project or simply Seminar is an integral part of VIII semester engineering course of VTU. The idea behind this academic activity is to encourage student to come up with an interesting topic connected to academics and make a presentation to the entire class. The entire process of seminar is expected to help student on how to choose a topic; research references to prepare the content for presentation and finally help him get rid of "stage freight" by making presentation to the class.Choosing a topic is one of the most defining moments of seminar process. It is so because there are too many topics to choose from. Additionally for a faculty to see that there is no overlap or duplication of topics is a daunting task. Just imagine class strength of 120 and the process of checking for duplication and even after choosing a topic each student has to come out with an "abstract" of his seminar topic to be approved by the concerned faculty. A seminar abstract to be approved must indicate two or more references consulted during the preparation of the abstract. Until now students were asked to submit the seminar abstract on paper and it was very difficult for a faculty to check all reference.

Our Experiment: For the year 2007-08 we adopted a web-based approach to conduct the entire process of seminar. We asked students to submit seminar abstract along with references via email. We insisted that references must be URL's so that we can verify them at once. Submitted abstracts were read in email form only and references were checked by clicking through them. Duplicate Seminar topics were detected using "search within mail" feature thus reducing the drudgery usually associated with paper based abstract submission. Once the seminar abstracts were accepted students were asked to prepare up to 15 slides using freely available online presentation tool and submit. Faculty went through the presentation and made suggestion if any and asked students to make the final presentation in the class. Thus paper work was eliminated to 100%.

Outcomes: While our approach simplified our work, it also gave our students to learn using email as means of submitting academic work and also learning using presentation software. The database of all such seminar is maintained is the next batch students are using it as reference. see here for detailed student response

EXPERIEMENT No 1: Using email to send questions to students and receive their answers.

2009-04-08T15:06:00.000+05:30

In 2000 we were having a laboratory course titled Basic Skills Lab(BSL), under VTU. The objective of the course was to introduce to and familiarize students with basic and general purpose tools such as word processor-editing, mail merge , spreadsheet, HTML- designing home pages, linking other pages to given page, email- sending and receiving message etc. This was ideal situation for faculty to use email as an instructional medium and also testing means. Faculty used to send some questions to each student separately and students were expected to send their answers by the time they come to lab next week. Remember this was a time when email was not popular among students and our approach provided an excellent exposure to a tool that they might need all through their professional and personal life.