5 Ways to Give Yourself an Education That Kicks the Crap Out of the One You Got in School | Riding the Waves of Personal Development

Via Scoop.it – Learning Environment Support

Some good points are mentioned in this article. The approach seperates ‘learning’ from ‘assessment’, and maybe this needs to be considered as an approach for training providers? A model may be where the content is free, and you pay for the assessment of your learning against recognised standards?

Many universities seem to be looking at this approach, for example, this report:

Mexico’s Largest University to Post Online Nearly All Publications and Course Materials

Via theskooloflife.com

‘Scoop.it’

We have been exploring ‘Scoop.it‘, a curation tool we learnt about at ConVerge last week. Content curation is becoming more important as a way of sorting out the vast amount of information we have available.

Have a look at our Scoop.it site at www.scoop.it/t/learning-environment-support

A similar option is ‘Delicious‘, but we haven’t explored this one as yet.

Access to iTunes U by mobile devices

The link below discusses the increasing use of mobile devices, particularly those using iOS, to access iTunes U content:

Open University’s iTunes U success driven by mobile learning and iOS.

Infographics

Many people prefer information presented in a visual way. This is where infographics (sometimes referred to as data visualizations) can help. There are a number of sites that share infographics, and they can be useful for visual learners as well as for encouraging discussion. Some sites I have seen include:

coolinfographics.com

Good.is infographics

dailyinfographic.com

Visual.ly

Visual.ly plan to have tools that will help individuals create their own infographics.

LORN to be decommisioned

The Learning Object Repository Network (LORN) is to be decommissioned. Some of the resources will be available from other repositories. The link below is to an article in the Flex e-News newsletter about this subject:

Flex e-News article

These resources are very useful for providers. The resources can be used as they are, or adapted. Check out the licence conditions for each resource when you download them. If you would like some help in downloading and/or adapting this type of content for use with your delivery platform(s), let me know.

South Korea to move to digital textbooks

An article from engadget.com talks about the plans of South Korea to move towards the use of ‘digital textbooks’. See:

South Korea plans to convert all textbooks to digital, swap backpacks for tablets by 2015

The links in the article have a bit more information.

Digital textbooks

With the growth of mobile devices which can be used as book readers, it was only a matter of time before digital textbooks for use by students started to arrive. The following links have more information:

Tablets make digital textbooks cool on campus

Reinventing the College Textbook

The two links below are to sites that are taking up this idea. They give some idea about where all this might be heading:

Inkling.com

Dynamic Books

There are a lot of advantages to digital textbooks, including the amount of paper saved, and being able to have a number of textbooks accessible on the one device (no more having to carry around large textbooks). people used to say that at least with a book, you could read it in bed, but I think tablets and e-book readers have changed all that!

‘iPad Curriculum’

‘iPad Curriculum’ is a blog about how iPad apps can be used as learning tools. See:

iPad Curriculum

I think this is a great example of the development that can occur once a device has been created. Once its built, people start looking at different ways it can be used, and now more and more people are starting to look at how tablets and mobile devices can be used for education (among other things).

To find more education iPad apps, try www.apple.com/education/apps/. For Android devices, see market.android.com/apps/EDUCATION

Libraries and technology

Libraries may be thought of as ‘old school’ and to have little to do with technology, but this is not the case. Have a look at the following links:

As Wi-Fi Havens And E-Book Centers, Public Libraries Aren’t Going Away Soon Fastplanet article

Through the looking glass and beyond smh.com.au article

Victorian Association for Library Automation (VALA)

Public Libraries Victoria Network – ‘Technology’ page

Khan Academy

The ‘Khan Academy’ seems to keep coming up whenever comments are made about tech and eductaion. A “not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere”, they seem to be a well known player in the movement for free education. See the links below for more info:

Khan Academy

They have their own YouTube channel, see:

Khan Academy YouTube channel

The great thing about having a video explaning the content is the ability to rewind and re-play when the individual requires. Its a bit more difficult to get the teacher to re-wind!