"Web Wonders" Presentation

Topic

Exploring modern teaching & learning uses of online resources that are accessible to everyone.

> Commercial e-learning systems like Blackboard/WebCT or Skillsoft are expensive and only accessible through the organisation.

> Sophisticated, free e-learning systems or tools like ATutor/Moodle normally require a degree of setup and tech-savviness.

> Our focus is on websites, resources & tools that are freely available on the web and have very simple startup and usage requirements.

Interactive Language & Numeracy Practice

> UK DFES interactive learning - literacy, language & numeracy practice.

Fun, Educational Participation/Community sites

> wikiHow - read and write how-to guides for everyday life.

Participation Tools for Class Teaching & Learning

> Wikispaces - Ex 1

> Blogs: Edublogs Ex 1

Podcasts & other Audio tools

> Freelanguage podcast list - specifically for learning English

> podOmatic - create, find and share podcasts

> Chinesepod

Video, Animation & other Rich Media

Finding Online Content for Teaching & Learning

> Wikipedia > Wikimedia > Internet Archive > Podcast Alley > Picasa > Photobucket > Webshots > Yahoo CC

> Reference list

Online Curriculum Resources

> MIT

> Connexions

> Curriki

> Curriculum podcasts > EPN podcasts

> techLearning

Assessment Tools

> Chalkface

Visual & Presentation tools for Learning

> Flashcard Exchange - use and create flashcards to learn anything

> Empressr - online presentations

> Formatpixel - online graphic publishing

Free Online Courses & Units

> Openlearn - free, mainly text-based topics

Online Portfolios

> Digication - Ex 1 Ex 2 Ex 3

Social Networking for Education

> You've heard of MySpace Check out > Elgg.org

> ELGG.net - for teachers: Ex 1

> Ning - Ex 1

Tools for the Classroom

> Quikmaps

> Google Earth Showcase

Website Creation

> Weebly > Google Page Creator

Useful Websites for Students

> World Newspapers

> Global Voices Online

Organisation & Class Tools for Students & Teachers

> Mynoteit

> Schoopy

> Engrade

> Chalksite

Technology Guides for Educators

> Google for Educators

> EdTechLive podcasts

Simple, Integrated Tools for Schools

> Google Apps for Education

Getting your Content Online!

> Google Docs & Spreadsheets

> Slideshare

> Scribd

> Zoho

Tool, Resource & Site Reference Lists

> Web 2.0 Directory

> Web 2.0 Teaching Tools

> Blendedlearning resources

What Else is Going on?

> Second Life meets Moodle

Current IAT e-learning Activity

In developing new e-learning initiatives & solutions, it's important for us to identify all existing uses of technology for teaching and learning at any school or program in IAT. These existing examples will be very valuable in generating ideas & discussion and making sure that the new solutions developed support these needs.

Many of these examples will be online and we will link to them here. However, other electronic resources (e.g. multimedia, desktop applications, etc) should also be listed here.

Websites, Blogs & Wikis

> Omar's EFL site - used for teaching English by Omar Al Nousri at Al Ain.

> Al Ain GHQ Wiki - GHQ Global English

> Al Ain IAT Rocks blog - a simple tool for students to think, reflect and interact in English.

> IAT 10.07 web journal - allows students to post their reflections about the class on an individual page during the program and receive feedback from the teacher.

> Stewart's ICT site - contains material for Dubai ICT classes and photos.

Learning Management Systems (e.g. Moodle)

> Metwally's Moodle classroom - interactive tools & learning in an online environment

Online Video, Audio, Pictures & Multimedia

>

Desktop Applications & Resources

E.g. language programs, presentations, media.

>

Al Ain Technology PD Sessions

There has been a strong consensus on the need for professional development activities as part of this project and the first (pilot) organised sessions are intended to be held at the Al Ain campus every two weeks. The initial session is scheduled for 3:10pm in the Library on the 28th of Feb.

Objectives

> To develop a core group of staff (mostly teachers) at a campus who will subsequently be able to drive and facilitate the effective use of technology for teaching & learning more broadly in the school and among teaching staff.

> Enabling teaching staff to actively participate in the evaluation, selection, design & implementation of technology deployed by IAT to support teaching and learning.

> Using practical pilot intitiatives to identify and address many of the specific challenges and issues relating to the usage of technology for teaching & learning at IAT. E.g. How do we make the tools we use engaging and appropriate to the type of students and program at each IAT school? Can we ensure that all students have the skills & access to participate?

The PD/Workshop Program

> Is intended to be structured with a schedule of activities and outcomes developed.

> Will be focused on practical activities with online tools, "sandboxes" and demo systems set up and made available.

> Should identify and trial desired/suggested learning resources & tools.

Participants

> Murray Grant. Al Ain Coordinator. Email: murray.grant@iat.ac.ae
> Adrian Lobo. Technology Facilitator. Email: adrian.lobo@iat.ac.ae

Teaching Staff: Elmetwally Elmenshawy, Kamal Ben Selama, Kevin Carillo, Omar Al Nousri, Shikha Dhanak, Ismail Fayed, Walid Shawish

Schedule

Session	Agenda
1 - 28th Feb	- Assemble group and introduce participants - Discuss ideas and form consensus on program aims & structure - Identify issues/challenges to be tackled or resolved through program (e.g. large variation in tech-savviness of students and teachers) Actions: (a) Teachers to provide specific requests & suggestions for program (b) Adrian to come up with recommended tools and solutions to trial
2 - 21st Mar	- Review & confirm suggested ideas & recommended solutions to explore - Provide overview of access to tools & solutions - Discuss how participants will proceed in their exploration & usage Tools / Resources (1) Wikis: About, Comparison, WS, PB, WP Education References: EW TH (2) Blogs: About, B2, WP, EB (3) e-Portfolios: About, Dig, Ref: Wip, EPL, (4) Rich Media Usage (Pics, Video): BS, FL, EPN, WS, (5) Finding Free Content (Media): About, WM, YCC, (6) Complete LMS: ATutor, Features, Hosting, Content, (7) Teaching & Learning Tools (e.g. Quizzes): 4t, EL, KS, QB, OP, CF, FE, (8) Learning Resources: Curriculum - TL, DF, Ed Websites - HSW, WP, BBC, Organise by subject - English, Maths, Science, IT, Vocational English: BBC, Science: BBC, BF, Social Science: BBC, Maths: BBCS, (9) Public Community Sites: WH, AN, EH, Actions: (a) Explore chosen tools and commence individual projects (b) Contribute examples and input for common projects (c) Homework reading: CL, LT, (d) Adrian to provide support & advice for all activities (e) Teachers to prepare initial demos on projects for next session
3 - 17th April	- Discuss and settle on all pilot projects - Review demos of new projects - Decide on how these projects will be progressed between sessions Draft Project List (1) Wikis for Teachers: Kevin Carillo - (2) Wikis for Classes: Omar Al Nousri - GHQ English (3) e-Portfolios: Tools - Edublogs, Wikis. Who? (4) Blogs for teachers or classes. Who? Ex 1, Ex 2 (5) Discover & use suitable online education resources. Who? TL, DF, HSW, WP, BBC, ML (6) Choose and utilise Web-based Teaching & Learning tools. Who? 4t, EL, KS, QB, OP, CF, FE (7) Find and integrate rich media content. Who? PO, WM, IA, PA, PI, WS, PB, YC (8) Implement a Learning Management System. Who? Suggested tool: Moodle
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Update Your Technology

During this project, I'll be making use of various free software and online tools & services that you might find useful and will also be applied in relevant professional development programs. I'll aim to build a comprehensive list here; please suggest your own.

Browsers

There are a number of better alternatives to browsing the web than using Internet Explorer.

> Recommended: Firefox - it's faster, has great add-ons and can be completely customized.

Suggested Firefox Add-ons (all users)

> Plugins - add support for Acrobat, Flash, Java, Shockwave, Quicktime & Windows Media Player

> del.icio.us Bookmarks - a much better way to bookmark

> FlashGot - for quick, simple downloading

> Email This - email any page on the web

> IETab - if you ever need to view a site in Internet Explorer once you're using Firefox

> DownloadHelper - easily download video & embedded media from the web

> LinkWad - save & load groups of websites together as tabs

Online Web Tools

> Gliffy - Create & share diagrams online

> MindMeister - Online, collaborative mind-mapping tool

> MailBigFIle - send files to someone that are too big for email (up to 512Mb)

> Picnik - web-based photo editing and gallery integration

Advanced

> Net2FTP - simple web-based FTP service

Useful Web Services & Sites

> Google Docs & Spreadsheets - web-based docs & spreadsheets you can share & collaborate, save as Word docs or PDFs, and publish as web pages or to your blog.

> FormAssembly - create advanced online forms & easily aggregate responses

> Google Maps - online interactive maps for finding locations

Desktop Applications

> Google Earth - explore & tour the earth using satellite images

> FastStone Capture - powerful screen capture utility

Website Design & Development

> Blogger - the easiest way to get a free website up and running online

> Joomla - a simple but powerful dynamic website system

> Google Analytics - the easiest way to analyse rich usage data & statistics on your site

Advanced

> Host-Tracker - server uptime monitoring service

Online Technology PD

There's no point making wonderful, new technology available if people aren't familiar with it and don't know how to use it. Professional Development for staff (particularly those involved in teaching) has been cited frequently as a much-needed aspect of this project.

Formal Professional Development Activities

It is planned to arrange some initial demonstration sessions at each campus which all staff will be welcome to attend. These may be followed by smaller, more-focused, practical sessions throughout this project as various new tools and services are trialled and made available.

However, the intended plan for long-term PD of staff is to ultimately have experts or coordinators available in each area (and preferably on each campus) who will be able to provide this PD to their colleagues (or arrange it). Hence, the current request is for those staff who are interested in playing such a role to get in touch (please also nominate the type of technology. e.g. e-learning, website editing, multimedia, online web tools).

All organised demos or PD activities will be added to the calendar.

Technology Sandboxes & Trials

During the course of this project, various types of technology and online services will be made available for familiarization, trialling and professional development. These tools & "sandboxes" will be linked from here when available. They will include blogs, forums, wikis, e-learning applications, web tools and much more. Please add your requests.

Till ours are live, you can try the following demo sites:

> Opensource CMS - demo various portals, blogs, wikis, e-learning systems, etc.

Individual Learning Resources

Some web-based resources that may be of interest to staff will be added here.

> 23 things you can do on the web - familiarize yourself with some of the new websites & tools

> Web 2.0 directory - a comprehensive directory of the new web services & sites available

> Web 2.0 video tour - a short video about the evolution of the web