My Learning Space

Greetings All. Well let’s get the new year started with our Top 10 Tools for Learning in 2008.

In no particular order, We’ve listed our 10 favourite web tools for teachers. Eleven, actually!

We hope they are of value to you and your students. Best wishes for a fantastic year.

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Moodle
http://moodle.org
-open source Learning Management System that can be freely installed at any institution
-requires a system administrator to setup for use by teachers, students
-best used in a teaching and learning context
-easy to use communication and collaboration tools all contained in one program eg. blogs, chat, IM, forums, wikis, rss etc.

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Joomla!
http://joomla.org
-best open source Content Management System on the planet, full stop.
-will require some technical expertise to setup
-forget the need to use dreamweaver or hard code html
-just tweak css and php
-massive user base, excellent forum support and heaps of extensions such as community builder & virtuemart

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Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net
-share and download presentations
-browse, search, favourite by keyword tags
-create or join interest groups

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Page Flakes
http://www.pageflakes.com
-ajax technology and customisable widgets abound here!
-create private or public pages containing news feeds, sudoku, comics, games, to do lists, whatever!
-makes a great homepage
-share the page(s) with your colleagues or students

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Jing
http://www.jingproject.com
-capture images, video from your desktop and share files with others for FREE!
-great for student demos, tutorials
-for mac & pc

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Twitter
http://twitter.com
-a cool concept > i promise its not just another social networking site!
-answer one simple question in 140 char or less: what are you doing now?
-follow others & be followed
-public or private
-send and receive updates via mobile

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Del.icio.us
http://del.icio.us
-social bookmarking site
-take your bookmarks wherever you go
-share your favourited web site urls with others
-browse, search recommended community tags to learn about useful sites

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Technorati
http://technorati.com
-currently tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media.
-the recognised authority on what’s happening on the World Live Web, right now
-blogs and other forms of independent, user-generated content are organised

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Skype
http://skype.com
-the utlimate web communication tool
-good for conferencing with colleagues, students, friends or family!
-free voice, video calls pc to pc & cheap to call landlines & mobiles local or overseas
-IM chat, sms
-skype in, skype out

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Flickr
http://flickr.com
-free photo sharing service
-easy to organise and be creative with your photos online
-choose to make public or share with groups, friends and family

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Youtube
http://youtube.com
-video sharing service
-view and upload
-browse, search videos by keyword tags
-great for visual demonstrations, case studies

Open Learning advocates flexible education that can occur about anything, anywhere, anytime by anyone. This concept redefines the traditionally held view of education whereby students and teachers are bound to a strict bureaucratic system.

My Learning Space has now made available a series of free Open Learning courses designed to promote the professional development of educators. Each course contains a sequence of activities, resources and references. Essentially, all courses are self-enrollable, self-paced and self-directed, however, there are tools for educators to connect, communicate and collaborate with other participants throughout the experience. Upon successful completion of each course, teachers are able to download and print a Certificate of Participation.

Special mention is due to Open University in the UK for generously sharing their resources under a Creative Commons agreement and Chardelle Busch for her contribution to Moodle’s certificate module.

Click here to access Open Learning courses. Please note that before enrolling in courses you are required to register using a valid email account. Click here to view a summary of current courses.

Traditionally, education has been an entity, a system, a learning process that students undergo, or all or a combination of these things. Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying:

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school“.

In modern terms, education today is about learning as a life-long experience, not simply a process that students endure for a period of their lives.

Future learning requires deconstructing traditional views of education as an institution. For education, the next 10 years are about building communities of learners that can connect, communicate and collaborate about anything, anywhere and anytime. Social constructivism maintains that we learn well from expressing our ideas for others in a culture of shared meanings and contexts. Moreover, the advent of Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX, blog, chat, forums, podcasting, RSS feeds, wikis and so on, means that learning can be self-directed, dynamic, interactive and media-rich.

Boundaries that exist in the physical world, don’t necessarily exist in the virtual world. Virtually speaking, the world is flat. In theory, every person with an internet connection and some basic computer literacy has access to a wealth of digital information providing opportunities for new experiences, knowledge and skills. Technology can go beyond the four walls of a traditional classroom or lecture theatre. This ‘level playing field’ can mitigate inequities based on age, gender, geography, race, religion or wealth.

I believe technology is a driving factor in the pedagogical paradigm shift. The role for educators has transformed from instructors to that of facilitators, knowledge architects and co-learners. It’s an exciting time to be involved in education.