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Volume 2 Number 1
In this issue: Freedom to Learn! Let’s start the fall semester with some fireworks and some more interes ng ideas from your Academic Technology Coordinator. This issue will cover your freedom to learn things for FREE. I know, I know we are all busy preparing classes, and under pressures to help our students but we need to help ourselves. Plus sharing this informa on with your students will help them too. The “Instruc onal Aid” on the following pages of this magazine will link you to some great resources. We know that budgets are ght so we have to get crea ve with what we have and our limited resources. I hope you will checkout these resource links highlighted in Vola le Learning and that they will inspire you to con nue engaging GPTC students and yourselves in free lifelong learning. Provi:)
Freeloader’s Guide Revisited Freeloader’s Guide Plus+ was a TNT Lab H.O.T. (Hands‐On‐Training) workshop session that deserves another look. The workshop combined informa on from First District RESA ETC’s Freeloader’s Guide to Educa onal So ware with other free bits of informa on. Here you will find the original link to the Freeloader’s Guide h p://freeloader.fdresa.org The “Plus+” in the tle included mini so ware applica ons from Portable Apps at h p://portableapps.com , web 2.0 resources at h p://www.go2web20.net and s ll more free open source resources from h p://osliving.com/
Prezi Zooming with Prezi? GPTC faculty and staff has be asking me about Prezi. Prezi is a cloud based presenta on so ware and storytelling tool for presen ng ideas on a virtual canvas with a zooming user interface. Prezi was established by an Hungarian architect, Adam Somlai‐Fischer, a computer scien st, Peter Halacsy and an entrepreneur, Peter Arvai in 2009. They are picture below. The word prezi is Hungarian for short form of presenta on.
Prezi allows you to pan, zoom, size, rotate and edit objects. Frames allow group‐ ing and paths help you navigate the details and see the whole picture too. It is a subscribers service and has a free educa onal version of the program for students and educators. It also have a collabora on feature that lets up to ten people edit and show presenta ons in re‐ al me. You can also import PowerPoint slides into Prezi. To get an idea about how it works check out the prezis at the link about “7 out‐ standing Example Presenta on Using Prezi”. h p://blog.crazyegg.com/2012/10/29/example‐presenta ons‐using‐prezi/ Here is a link to “Ode to Prezi_Prezi Presenta on Design” a video on Prezi. h p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NIT0Xu9vTc&list=TLtJQA35hxT‐U Use Prezi for iPad, Prezi for iPhone (both free) or if you have the funds get Prezi Desktop ($159 a year).
Prezita ons Ideas Ma er at the Prezi website h p://prezi.com/ you will be able to explore how others create presenta ons. The Prezi blog at h p://blog.prezi.com/ can give you more ways of using Prezi like this ar cle from the Chronicles of Higher Educa‐ on “Hacking Prezi as a Pla orm for Visual Composi on and Design Experimenta‐ on” if you follow this link. Prezi templates are also helpful for first‐ me users. h p://chronicle.com/blogs/pro acker/hacking‐prezi‐as‐a‐pla orm‐for‐visual‐ composi on‐and‐design‐experimenta on/49909
Veterans users will no ce the change in the transforma on tool. The Bubble menu and zebra wheel are gone. The newer interface does s ll has a large canvas for collec ng your ideas. You can s ll see the bigger picture and the li le details of you concepts and finally now you can add sound two different ways too! You s ll have to be careful and avoid crea ng movements that can make your audience a bit dizzy. Mr. Holowack’s “Top 5 Reasons to use Prezi instead of PowerPoint” video can be found here, h p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPh2Nl9AAPE and another unique Prezi video from WikiBrains‐Manifesto here, h p://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2NsKNL7LJOI&feature=c4‐overview‐vl&list=PL92546C8F504816AF Prezi works best with “visual metaphors” or concepts that are “not” linear that can convey your message since it is very visual and the canvas is almost infinite.
Free Learning Online Lifelong Learners you can learn whatever you want whenever you want online. All you have to do is made the me to checkout some of these links below to get started on your way to learning almost anything for free.
Coursera @ h ps://www.coursera.org/ Coursera strives to make educa on ac‐ cessible to anyone. How: Free courses online from world‐class universi es. The topics are varied with lectures are forma ed into series of 15‐minute‐long clips.
Udacity @ h ps://www.udacity.com/ Udacity is a free educa on website for brainy types, founded by Stanford robo cists. How: Udacity currently offers cours‐ es in science and math‐related topics.
Mentomob @ h p://www.mentormob.com/ Mentomob curates and orders learning materials. How: Mentormob is like the YouTube of learning materials: us‐ ers create learning “playlists” from first‐rate websites.
Menrise @ h p://www.memrise.com/ Menrise is effortless learning based on three pillars: science, fun and community. How: Based on scien fic methods for implan ng new informa on, Memrise proves that what may seem impossible is in fact doable
Learnist @ h p://learni.st/category/featured#/category/featured Learnist is the Pinterest of learning. How: The interac ve pla orm allows users to collect teaching materials and educa onal content that are grouped into "boards".
Khan Academy @ h p://www.khanacademy.org/ Khan Academy is a not‐for‐ profit that wants to change educa on. How: With lots of videos, prac ce test, badges and energy points.
P2PU @ h ps://p2pu.org/en/ Peer 2 Peer University is a grassroots open educa‐ on project that creates a lifelong learning model. How: It leverages the internet and educa onal materials online and enables high‐quality low‐cost opportuni es.
Massive Open Online Courses The Year of the MOOC According to Wikipedia, “The New York Times dubbed 2012 'The Year of the MOOC,' and it has since become one of the ho est topics in educa on. Time magazine said that free MOOCs open the door to the 'Ivy League for the Masses.'” This has been primarily due to the emer‐ gence of several well‐financed providers, associated with top universi es. Wikipedia said that the term MOOC was coined in 2008 by Dave Cormier, and Bryan Alexander during a course called "Connec vism and Connec ve Knowledge" that was presented to 25 tui on‐paying students in Extended Educa on at the University of Manitoba in addi on to 2,300 other students from the general public who took the online class free of charge. All course content was available through RSS feeds, and learners could par cipate with their choice of tools: threaded discussions in Moodle, blog posts, Second Life, and synchronous online mee ngs. Some good resources about MOOCs can be found at the Educause website at the link below. h p://www.educause.edu/library/massive‐open‐ online‐course‐mooc The interes ng infographic to the right can be viewed in detail at this next link. h p://blogs.enterasys.com/trends‐in‐massive‐open‐ online‐courses‐infographic/
The Future of Educa on? A list of 500 free MOOCs can be found on the Open Culture website link h p://www.openculture.com/ free_cer ficate_courses They are offered by some leading universi es and are arranged by start date. Open Culture also has a list of 700 Free online courses that are listed by subject and can be found at this link, h p://www.openculture.com/ freeonlinecourses
The Edudemic ar cle, “5 Poten al Ways MOOCs Will Evolve” gives more insight on MOOCs at h p://www.edudemic.com/2012/10/moocs‐past‐ present‐future/ So to MOOC or not to MOOC, now that is a good ques on. So let’s play devil’s ad‐ vocate and look at the darker side of MOOCs. Here is a infographic from Online Colleges (top right) that can be viewed in detail at the link below. So you get a nice balanced view of things. It is called “The Dark Side of MOOCs”. h p://www.onlinecolleges.net/2013/02/18/the‐dark‐side‐of‐moocs/
Academic Technology Services We are star ng the fall semester with a blast by making it easier to par cipant in your own staff development. By transferring most of our instruc onal design workshops, content and resources to the internet it will be available to you 24/7. We want you to be able to access it any me and from anywhere.
We want to provide you with support, inspira on, guidance and help you in the design, development and delivery of technology based instruc onal content to your students. Assis ng you to engage, encourage and educate them for the workplace and for their future endeavors. So get online and discover your TNT Lab.
Create some learning @ your TNT Lab
Expose some gray ma er at your TNT Lab, TODAY! Call Ext. 1146 and make an appointment.
TNT Lab Workshops Available Online 24/7 Academic Technology Services and the Center for E‐Learning Delivery presents
Online Workshops from the TNT Lab Contact your Academic Technology Coordinator at Ext. 1146 or sotomerp@gptc.edu for more informa on on how to access the workshops
Most workshop recordings will be available online for your viewing convenience.
Online Workshop Recordings: Fall Semester Name /Descrip on Talk Less Teach More ‐ Add audio to your presentation so you can lecture less. Post audio lectures into Angel with Vocarro online recorder. (30 minutes sessions) Digital Publishing “Issuu” – Self publishing made easy! Enhance your online courses and learn to create engaging interactive content. (30 minutes sessions) Angel: Extreme Makeover Edition –Discover many ingenious ways of improving how your students “see” your course in Angel LMS. (30 minutes sessions) iSwipe, iLearn about iPad – Useful tricks and tips when using iPad. Stripping ads from webpages, keyboard shortcuts, and so much more. (30 minutes sessions) Xtranormal Results – Introduction to Xtranor‐ mal online animation interface and how to get started selecting actors, scenes and camera an‐ gles. (30 minutes sessions) Using What You Already Have – Dealing with a tight budget and limited resources? Use the tools you already have to create blended learning. (30 minutes sessions) Freeloader’s Guide Plus – Let’s talk Freebies. Open Source, Web 2.0 websites, and Portable Apps for you jump drives and so much more. (30 minutes sessions) Creating Engaging Prezi‐tations – Alternatives to PowerPoint and how to use them to improve the content you present in the classroom. (30 minutes sessions)
Link to recorded session available online h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available NOW h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available TBA—To Be Announced h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available NOW h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available TBA—To Be Announced
h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available NOW
h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available TBA—To Be Announced h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available NOW h p://tntlabonline.weebly.com./workshop‐ recordings.html Available TBA—To Be Announced
Coming later…
Gami ication of Education – An introduction Symbaloo – An introduction to webmixes Games People Play Now – Educational PowerPoint Games Geeky Gadgets – Going gaga 4 geeky gadgets
One on One Brainstorming –Brainstorm your ideas with an ID professional or research new instruc‐ tional technologies for your courses. (15 minutes session) By Appointment Only
Vola le Learning #4 Wow, it has been a whole year since the first issue of Vola le Learning premiered in fall semester of 2012. I hope that you have been enjoying the in‐ struc onal ideas that have been highlighted in each issue. I have really liked researching the different topics and encourage you to tryout some of them in the classroom. Remember to contact me with any concerns or ques ons and please share your ideas and what you are doing for your students with your colleagues by contribu ng to this “your “magazine. Provi
Next Issue: Using What You Have MS Paint MS Publisher Online Resources
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