http://openedweb.com/blog Education and Technology Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:47:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/08/10/graphics-in-instructional-presentations/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/08/10/graphics-in-instructional-presentations/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:27:49 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1705 As I grapple with research trying to improve my instructional presentations, I have learned about Richard Mayer’s assertion that people learn better with words and graphics than just words alone. As a result, I have been investigating information about the role of graphics in learning. One natural extension of the reading that I have done [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/08/10/graphics-in-instructional-presentations/feed/ 1 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/08/09/corporate-web-2-0/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/08/09/corporate-web-2-0/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:30:20 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1719 Jim Groom just got me fired up again. Groom, in conjunction with Brian Lamb, wrote an important article in Educause entitled Never Mind the Edupunks; or, The Great Web 2.0 Swindle. The article laments the corporatization of  Web 2.0 in education.  The authors acknowledge the appeal and power of free online services offered by Google and [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/08/09/corporate-web-2-0/feed/ 3 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/30/text-and-graphics-in-multimedia-presentations/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/30/text-and-graphics-in-multimedia-presentations/#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:31:51 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1463 My presentation design has been greatly influenced by Nancy Duarte’s book slide:ology and Garr Reynolds, the author of Presentation Zen. I have integrated their ideas in both my conferences and instructional presentations. Their advice has dramatically changed my practice from bullet points to slides that are more graphically oriented with much less text. Both Duarte’ [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/30/text-and-graphics-in-multimedia-presentations/feed/ 4 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/19/buddypress-installation-for-the-masses-2/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/19/buddypress-installation-for-the-masses-2/#comments Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:48:26 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1436 I recently created another BuddyPress test site and I am pleased with how much the procedure has been simplified. I blogged about the difficulty in the past, so it is only fair that I note vast improvements. I never fully succeeded installing BP the first time I tried. It involved a long process of manually uploading a [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/19/buddypress-installation-for-the-masses-2/feed/ 5 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/19/what-about-an-open-educational-resource-torrent-tracker/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/19/what-about-an-open-educational-resource-torrent-tracker/#comments Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:20:33 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/08/what-about-an-open-educational-resource-torrent-tracker/ There are many resources on the Internet dedicated to open educational resources. Some are sites, for example Curriki, that provide online communities for sharing such resources. Others are search sites such as CC Search that provide links to open licensed resources throughout the Internet. The one variant that I have not yet found is a [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/19/what-about-an-open-educational-resource-torrent-tracker/feed/ 4 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/13/sharing-isnt-simple-ii/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/13/sharing-isnt-simple-ii/#comments Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:03:57 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/06/sharing-isnt-simple-ii/ Copyright issues are not the only obstacles to sharing content with others. Some of the obstacles are my choice of software and platform. Although I am an advocate of open source software, my focus in this area has been server based applications. When it comes to desktop computing, I run a Mac. I like the [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/06/13/sharing-isnt-simple-ii/feed/ 0 http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/05/22/digitizing-math-instruction/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/05/22/digitizing-math-instruction/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 15:25:20 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/05/22/digitizing-and-sharing-math-instruction/ A few months ago, I decided to deliver math lessons to my fifth grade digitally. It was the last subject area that I brought into this form. I was reluctant because typesetting needed for math was confusing and frustrating. Beyond that, I was quite pleased with how I conducted math lessons, and my results have [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2010/05/22/digitizing-math-instruction/feed/ 0 http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/11/01/nysed-tech-plan-up-for-comments/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/11/01/nysed-tech-plan-up-for-comments/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:28:51 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1353 Last April, the New York State Department of Education (NYSED) embarked on an outreach campaign seeking input on their new draft technology plan. They started with a meeting leaders of major professional organizations. They set up a survey on their website and met with educational technology leaders at the NYSCATE leadership summit this summer. As [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/11/01/nysed-tech-plan-up-for-comments/feed/ 1 http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:01:03 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1319 The NYSED Technology Plan’s first goal addresses digital content: Standards-based, accessible digital content supports all curricula for all learners. Accessible is defined as: content available anywhere, easy to retrieve using multiple technology devices, and content is universally designed. Aligning digital content to the New York State learning standards is how we will ensure quality and relevance [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/feed/ 3 http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/27/will-nysed-tweet/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/27/will-nysed-tweet/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:03:59 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1313 While I attended the NYSCATE Leadership Summit last week for a variety of reasons, the main motivation was to hear the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) presentation on their proposed state technology plan. Beyond the presentation there were roundtable discussions to provide input and feedback followed by an opportunity to ask questions. When the opportunity [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/27/will-nysed-tweet/feed/ 3 http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/04/30/werdmuller-announces-new-project-keeps-other-quiet/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/04/30/werdmuller-announces-new-project-keeps-other-quiet/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:52:12 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1291 As promised, former Elgg developer Ben Werdmuller, has announced a new social networking project. He is working on a social mapping project called OutMap. In addition, he is beginning a web consulting service. He alluded to a third project that he is keeping under wraps. OutMap appears to be a social geographic information system in which a [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/04/30/werdmuller-announces-new-project-keeps-other-quiet/feed/ 1 http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/04/03/site-touts-buddypress-for-k12/ http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/04/03/site-touts-buddypress-for-k12/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:16:03 +0000 Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1271 While visiting the BuddyPress site for fresh news, I encountered a blog post entitled BuddyPress in K12 Education. It appears that BuddyPress is being piloted by the Dearborn, Michigan school district. It’s always great to hear about Open Source adoptions by public K12 ! I could see deploying components of BuddyPress in our school’s existing [...]]]> http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/04/03/site-touts-buddypress-for-k12/feed/ 4