15 Open Source Resources for Educators

Finding open source or free resources is a great way to enhance learning and increase productivity in the classroom. There are many different applications, tools, and other materials available online.

This list provides 15 free open source resources that are perfect for educators:

Bookgoo – Bookgoo is a free web app that provides tools to highlight and annotate documents. The app works well for grading papers and sharing notes online.

Eduslide – Eduslide provides free open source tools to create online classrooms courses, chat rooms, and forums.

FlashcardExchange – FlashcardExchange is a free flashcard maker used by teachers around the world. Flashcards created on this site can be printed out or shared online.

Mikogo – Mikogo is a desktop sharing tool that is free for both private and commercial use. This innovative site works well for webinars, online conferences, and remote support.

Artopia – Artopia is a comprehensive art site designed for middle school children. This creative site gives students the opportunity to examine art and learn art techniques from others.

GroupTweet – This Twitter app allows teachers to communicate with their students privately. Teachers simply sign up for an account and then register their students as members to converse with them privately.

Empressr – Empressr is a free multimedia tool for creating presentations. This visual storytelling tool allows you to add images, videos, audio, and text.

NoteMesh – This open source app allows students in the same class to share and collaborate on notes.

Thinkfinity – The Verizon Foundation’s Thinkfinity offers lesson plans, interactive games, and activities that are perfect for the classroom.

FREE – FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence) provides many free resources for teachers including lesson plans, animations, primary docs, video, and photos.

Smithsonian Education – Smithsonian Education offers several open source materials for teachers including lesson plans, games, and more. The materials cover a wide variety of subjects and grades.

Remember the Milk – Remember the Milk is an online task manager that provides tools to manage tasks quickly, send notifications, and make lists from anywhere.

Microsoft Education – This educational website from Microsoft offers lesson plans, training, and an educator’s community.

4Teachers.org – 4Teachers.org is an open source site that offers several tools and resources to integrate technology into the classroom. Just a few features of this site include web lessons, quizzes, rubrics, and calendars.

Web-Chops – This free site provides tools to collect and share web content. The content you collect can then be organized and displayed on one page.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online classes for OnlineClasses.org.

The Chicago Convergence—CANCELLED

A follow up to my May 20th 2009 post about the TCC 09…the Chicago Convergence is cancelled.

The scheduled 2009 Chicago Convergence has been cancelled. Last year’s event was great. My intention was to volunteer this year. There seemed to be an awesome line up of new media nerds and techie geeks from all professions. Here is a snippet of the email I received:

The Chicago Convergence conference, slated for Sept 21-23 at the Spertus Institute is officially canceled and will be honored with an anniversary party [details in next few days]. We are planning to host additional events and activities over the next 90 days.

TCC is undergoing a massive restructuring in order “to grow a more robust digital community and expand jobs and opportunities,” said Montgomery, who succeeded founder John Patterson of Pixel Brothers when he relocated to Los Angeles earlier this year.

In late July Montgomery convened a meeting of TCC’s Leadership Committee to “edit and repackage ideas” for the second annual Convergence Summit, and to find appropriate future programs to satisfy the membership’s needs, he said at the time. The final nail in the coffin was an unproductive effort to replace sponsors that bowed out when the recession hit earlier this year.

How unfortunate.

In regards to technical writers…

How funny?!

Technical Writing Graduate Programs & Certification

In regards to technical writing graduate programs…

…Yes, they exist.

I seen a Wikianswers question regarding the availability of PhD programs in technical writing.   Someone replied ”no.”  This is incorrect. 

As instructional designers and eLearning developers we are interdisciplinary professionals.  Technical writing is one of our most common crossover careers…in addition to web designer, video editor, script writer (audio/video), magician, black jack dealer…they think we can do it all. (We can!)

For this reason I wanted to put together a list of technical writing resources.  That list could run all day.  Instead, I have some links below that you should find helpful depending on your level of technical writing/communication interest.

Reputable graduate programs

• Texas Tech (available onsite or online)
• University of Arkansas, Little Rock
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Boise State

Technical writing within other academic departments
Another option is to search within traditional academic departments that include technical writing as a track option.

• Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse(WRD) Departments
• Communications Departments
• Traditional English Departments
• Perform a google search for “technical writing graduate programs”… Results!

Certification programs
Another solution is a certification program within a reputable university and/or training center.

• University of California Riverside
• Tech-writer Certification
• Perform a Google search for “technical writer certification” … Results!
• Society for Technical Communciation (STC) has a great list of online certification courses

Hope this helps…

Adobe Learning Summit 2009

Adobe + eLearning…

What: A conference that discusses the latest eLearning tools, practices, and skill using applications from the Adobe eLearning Suite

When: November 9, 2009 // 8:00 am to 7:30 pm

Where: Fairmont Hotel // San Jose, CA

Keywords: eLearning, learning technologies, virtual classrooms, Connect Pro, Captivate, Presenter, Adobe eLearning Suite, education, inspiration

Benefits: Connected with DevLearn 2009 // Reception at Adobe headquarters (also known as “heaven” to us techie designers–”woohoo”)

20 Free eduTech Resources

  From web apps and course management tools to social learning sites and online classes, there are many edutech resources available online. These resources are a great way for students and lifelong learners to discover, create, and share educational information.

10 eduTech Resources

Shmoop – Shmoop offers fun and refreshing study guides for literature, U.S. history, and poetry. The site is specifically designed to make students better lovers of literature, better writers, and more critical thinkers.

 VerbaLearn – VerbaLearn helps students study vocabulary more effectively with MP3 files, video flashcards, puzzles, and review resources.

 iTalki – iTalki is an online language learning site that uses social networking, and crowdsourcing to increase understanding of foreign languages and cultures. This site offers many innovative features, including socially-driven questions, knowledge wikis, multimedia chat capability, and file sharing.

 OCW – The OCW features a master list of colleges and universities with open courseware programs. The site lists schools in the U.S. and abroad.

 SecondLife – This virtual world houses hundreds of universities and schools around the globe. SecondLife can be used to connect with other people or study online.

 Scitable – Scitable is a free collaborative learning and teaching portal with scientific insights, study resources, and teaching aids. This site concentrates on the fields of genetics, evolution, and variation.

 Grammar Girl – This friendly grammar site/podcast from Mignon Fogarty provides easy to remember grammar tips and rules. Listening to this podcast is a great way for anyone to improve their grammar and writing.

 Wolfram Demonstration Project – The Wolfram Demonstration Project features demonstrations to illustrate concepts in art, science, math, technology, finance, and other fields. This site can be used to illustrate difficult concepts, explain new mathematical ideas, and help with thesis research.

 Livemocha – With over 2 million members, Livemocha provides an excellent platform for language learning. The site offers free lessons and helps connect people with language partners all over the world.

 Arkive – Arkive is a large collection of images, videos, and fact files of the world’s species. This is the perfect site for exploring and learning about geography and the species of the world.

10 eduTech Tools

 WizIQ – WizIQ is a free web app for anyone who wants to learn or teach online. It can be used to create virtual classes, online tests, educational content, and web seminars.

 JingProject – JingProject makes it easy to share your computer screen with others online. It works well for collaborating on a project, editing a document, and commenting on homework.

ProProfs – ProProfs offers free tools for creating and sharing knowledge. This site features tools for creating quizzes, polls, flashcards, brain games, wiki’s, and forums.

 VoiceThread – This interactive site provides a tool for sharing information through images, documents, and videos. VoiceThread gives you the opportunity to showcase information that others can comment on in five different ways.

 Yugma – Yugma is a free tool that can be used for web conferences, online meetings, desktop sharing, and collaboration.

 Class Wiki – This free web app provides a platform for teaching and classroom activities. This Wiki service allows you to drag content, such as video, graphics, and text, into a space for educational instruction.

 Edmodo – Edmodo is a microblogging site created for teachers and students. This free edutech tool makes it easy for teachers to safely and securely send events, alerts, assignments, and more.

 Moodle – Moodle provides a free platform for creating online learning sites. This global project is open to everyone and can be modified for your needs.

 Connexions – With over 14,000 modules of scholarly information, Connexions provides invaluable resources that can be organized into books, courses, and reports. This site provides information on many different subjects, including art, business, humanities, math, science, and social sciences.

 Cramberry – This online flashcard site offers free pre-made flashcards for thousands of topics. It can also be used to create and study your own flashcards. Cramberry is a more intelligent way to study because it records progress, shows trouble cards more often, and makes studying more effective.

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Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online colleges for OnlineCollege.org.

Creative Video: Contents of the IDD

Very creative video tutorial on how to create an instructional design document…

Instructional Design Document

For your policies and procedure needs…

Are you responsible for developing manuals that include policies and procedures?

There are many proposed methods of presenting policies and procedures to your audience.  One method that has proven effective for my recent work… Information Mapping.  Their website contains many resources (PowerPoints, Whitepapers, etc.) and the webinars are free of charge.

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Advantage: Clear, concise, and easy-to-follow table layout

Disadvantage: Lack of visual stimulation for those who enjoy eye-catching graphics

Solution: When used well, color and other layout styles, may add to the flow and absorbability of your policies and procedures table

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For more information: http://www.infomap.com/index.cfm/Learning/LearningFocusAreas/Policies_and_Procedures

Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase 2009

& Technology Showcase 2009

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What: Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase

When: August 19, 2009 (Wednesday), 8:30 am — 6:00 pm

Where: Roosevelt University (Downtown Chicago), 430 S. Michigan Ave

Hosted by: CISPI, CTC Chicago, & CCASTD

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This event showcases the latest practices and technologies for eLearning design and development.  There are several interesting speakers/sessions.  One session covers mobile simulations! Awesome.

As eduTech gEEks, it is common for our formal training and acquired talents to overlap between instructional designer/developer/technical writer/new media developer…this showcase targets all interests.

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For more information: http://www.chicagoelearningshowcase.com/

eLearning Guild’s Midwest Instructional Design Symposium

eLearning Guild has a Midwest Instructional Design Symposium coming to Chicago, July 9 to 10.  The event consists of two larger eLearning lectures and several smaller sessions.  I find the opening session by Brent Schlenker, an emerging technologies analyst at eLearning Guild to be most interesting.  The description of his session says:

New media and Web technologies are having a significant impact on the world today. The most visible impact is on the newspaper business and the music industry. But instructional design is also under fire as the debate stirs around its relevance in the 21st Century. In this opening keynote presentation, Brent Schlenker presents an engaging look at the exciting opportunities available for both instructional designers and training departments to rise to the occasion and become more relevant than ever.

Relevance: We need more discussion of the role of new media on instructional design.  I find, on various projects, that many old school IDs are out of the loop when it comes to the practices, theory, and general discourse regarding new media technologies.  There exists many conferences, websites, and information on various media, but we need more discussion on new media and instructional design.  And how the role of the instructional designer is changing due to the emergence of new media technologies.

This eLearning Guild conference may be a good starting point.