Volatile Learning
Volume 1 Number 1
KABOOM! What an explosive idea! Volatile Learning is Volatile Learning is an interactive magazine from your Teaching New Technology Lab or TNT Lab for short. It is now online via your Angel LMS and available 24/7, which will makes it easier to access all the great innovative instructional resources and workshop contents. Your Academic Technology Coordinator has been developing the TNT Lab Online in Angel for several months so that most of the resources from the physical lab would be available online too. This makes it easier for the faculty and staff at Georgia Piedmont Technical College to access the labs resources. Faculty is busy with classes, advising, and meetings that there seems to be no time to make an appointment to explore new ideas. So now all colleagues have to do is access the TNT Lab Online to be inspired and to participant in chats and/or discussion groups. They can contact us via email, phone, post questions to a discussion board, or schedule a 15-minute brainstorming session using online Blackboard Collaborative. The possibilities are endless. Please let me know what you think of the Premiere Edition of Volatile Learning because there is always room for improvement. I like to hear your feedback and if you would like to share your own ideas with your fellow colleagues. Just email any comments or concerns to sotomerp@gptc.edu. Please enjoy the magazine and use it to keep your students engaged in the classroom and online. Provi:)
Premiere Issue
issuu.com Share your content in a format that shows it off best! Issuu is a very fast growing digital publishing platform. I really like that you can get a free account and I also like the idea of being able to transfer instructional material and content into an interactive magazine-like viewer. It will surprise your students and help them to view your content in a fun and exciting way.
You can embed the viewer into Angel or your personal website. The player lets your students zoom in and out of your documents delivering an exceptional reading experience. It like they are browsing a magazine at a newsstand. You can also add interactive links to related website resources. It is easy to use. In the graphics above you see the viewer to the left and a library shelf to the right with some publications. The only drawback is some ads to the right of the viewer screen but they are easy to ignore. In the viewer you have several ways to navigate the document you view. There are navigation arrows, and when in full screen mode you have thumbnails below the document and zooming slider above the document. You can mouse over the active links you create and move the mouse to move around the page. In fact, it inspired me to create a magazine to share with colleagues which was christened “Volatile Learning” because it goes with my explosive personality:) You will view the premiere issue using the issuu viewer. After creating the document it was brought into the issuu library and published. The embed codes were placed into the Angel’s html editor, and placed into the TNT Lab Online website. So check out the website at http://issuu.com
weebly.com Building a website has never been easier! Weebly uses a simple drag and drop builder and make it easy to create a professional website without any technical skills required. Your website is done in real time, right from within your web browser with nothing to install or upgrade.
The TNT Lab Online website was designed using this web builder. The builder lets you play around with lots of different templates and the drag and drop interface lets you really customize the look and feel of your website. You can add a blog, photo galleries, setup slideshows and forms on your website. Weebly.com adds new templates so you can keep up with new trends and keep your website looking fresh. The PRO version adds more feature and more storage space but at a cost:( Check it out at http://www.weebly.com.
You can visit the TNT Lab Online website at http://tntlabonline.weebly.com.
symbaloo.com A visual bookmark management tool! This is a simple online bookmarking site that lets you save and access your bookmarks from anywhere but it stands out from the rest because its more visually appealing. You get a change to create colorful tiles for your links and arrange then into a 52 squared grid that they call a webmix. You can upload images to use as a tile and you can arrange them into groups within the grid or create more webmix tabs related to a specific topic.
You can share your webmix with students by placing the link on an Angel tab, see the screen grab above of my resources tab. You can use it as your start page in a browser and it works well as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) for students. Check it out at http://www.symbaloo.com.
open culture The best of free media for educators! At this website you will find highquality cultural and educational media for the lifelong learner. Founded in 2006 by Dan Colman, the Director and Associate Dean of Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program. He knew that there is a lot of free stuff scattered across the internet and decided to place it in one spot which will help you spend less time searching for it.
So check out Open Culture interesting blog posts and subscribe to their daily email like I did. You will find free language lessons, free audiobooks, free courses and all the free essentials you need at http://www.openculture.com/. Its great to have access to free educational related stuff centralized in one place. Create some learning @ your TNT Lab
Expose some gray matter at your TNT Lab, TODAY! Call Ext. 1146 and make an appointment.
canon.com/c-park Creative Park is a world of paper fun for all ages! The Canon camera folks have created this great and innovative website that shows how creative you can be with paper, scissors, glue and a good color printer. You and especially your children will have a lot of fun exploring this website in English or in Spanish at http://www.canon.com/c-park/. Some of the amazing paper crafts run from the simplest (mouse) to the complex (Great Wall) designed by talented artist.
3D Designs includes an old roadster or maybe you prefer a new Jaguar XKR.
The website has lots of different categories to choose from like toys, animals and science. It also includes origami, pop-up greeting cards and items for those who love scrapbooking. It is a great resources for students in GPTC’s Early Childhood Program.
TNT Lab Online Your TNT Lab is now
ONLINE in Angel Learning LMS Call Provi @ Ext. 1146 for more information and to get access.
a g n i d n tte a s e u . g b a a e L l l T o C TN e h t n pi o h s k r o HOT w
Register for a HOT Workshop NOW Academic Technology Services and the Center for E-Learning Delivery presents
Hands-On-Training Workshops @ your TNT Lab Contact your Academic Technology Coordinator at Ext. 1146 or sotomerp@gptc.edu for more information and to register for a workshop Online sessions are available via Blackboard Collaborate (Elluminate) since there is limited seating in the actual lab.
HOT workshop schedule Name /Description
Dates/Times
Location
Talk Less Teach More - Add audio to your PowerPoint presentation so you can lecture less. Learn to post audio lectures to Angel with Vocarro online recorder. (30 minutes sessions) Xtranormal Results – Introduction to Xtranormal online animation interface and how to get started selecting actors, scenes and camera angles. (30 minutes sessions)
Tuesday/Thursday Aug. 28, 9 & 10 AM Aug. 30, 1 & 2 PM
DeKalb Campus TNT Lab, Room C-4 & Elluminate
Monday/ Wednesday Sept. 10, 10 & 11 AM Sept. 12, 2 & 3 PM
Newton Campus TNT Lab, Room B-107 & Elluminate
Angel: Extreme Makeover Edition –Discover animated banners, simple animations, and other ingenious ways of improving what your students “see” online. (30 minutes sessions) Freeloader’s Guide Plus – Let’s talk Freebies. Web 2.0 websites, Open Source information and Portable Apps for you jump drives and so much more. (30 minutes sessions)
Tuesday/Thursday Sept. 18, 1 & 2 PM Sept. 20, 9 & 10 AM
Newton Campus TNT Lab, Room B-107 & Elluminate
Monday/ Wednesday Oct. 1, 2 & 3 PM Oct. 3, 10 & 11 AM
DeKalb Campus TNT Lab, Room C-4 & Elluminate
Talk Less Teach More - Add audio to your PowerPoint presentation so you can lecture less. Learn to post audio lectures to Angel with Vocarro online recorder. (30 minutes sessions) Freeloader’s Guide Plus – Let’s talk Freebies. Web 2.0 websites, Open Source information and Portable Apps for you jump drives and so much more. (30 minutes sessions)
Tuesday/Thursday Oct. 16, 9 & 10 AM Oct. 18, 1 & 2 PM
Newton Campus TNT Lab, Room B-107 & Elluminate
Monday/ Wednesday Oct. 22, 10 & 11 AM Oct. 24, 2 & 3 PM
Newton Campus TNT Lab, Room B-107 & Elluminate
Angel: Extreme Makeover Edition –Discover animated banners, simple animations, and other ingenious ways of improving what your students “see” online. (30 minutes sessions) Xtranormal Results – Introduction to Xtranormal online animation interface and how to get started selecting actors, scenes and camera angles. (30 minutes sessions)
Tuesday/Thursday Dec. 4, 1 & 2 PM Dec. 6, 9 & 10 AM
DeKalb Campus TNT Lab, Room C-4 & Elluminate
Monday/ Wednesday Dec. 10, 2 & 3 PM Dec. 12, 10 & 11 AM
DeKalb Campus TNT Lab, Room C-4 & Elluminate
One on One Brainstorming – Come by and brainstorm your ideas with a ID professional (15 minutes session)
Appointment Only
DeKalb Campus TNT Lab, Room C-4
Volatile Learning Hi, I’m Providencia (Provi) Soto-Mercer and your Academic Technology Coordinator at Georgia Piedmont Technical College, DeKalb campus, in Clarkston, GA. I coordinate the operations of the Teaching New Technology Lab (TNT Lab), manage the Academic Technology Services office and support GPTC’s faculty and staff with my instructional design expertise and HOT (Hands-On-Training) workshops. As part of the Center for E-learning Delivery team I hope you find this new magazine helpful with ideas to engage your students and inspirer your teaching talents.
Coming Next Semester: Angel Animated Banners Xtranormal Tips PowerPoint Games