REPORT: US Dept. of Education | Ed Tech Developer's Guide

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Keeping you update with education research around the Web!

The U.S. Dept. of Education (Office of Educational Technology) has just released a primer for educational technology developers who produce apps and learning tools. What is great about this guide is that it contains valuable insight from long-time educators and practitioners in the education field about what is ACTUALLY NEEDED in the schools in terms of educational technology.

The Ed Tech Developer's Guide gives detailed information about districts, schools, teachers, and students all over the country. It also discusses practical issues such as design, teacher training, privacy and accessibility, purchasing and parental use of these tools.

It is a helpful guide intended for developers of educational technology and is smartly created using the advice and experience of those on the front lines. That's a win-win situation on any given day!

You can download the guide here:
http://tech.ed.gov/developers-guide/

CHECK THIS OUT! Pocket.com

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About Pocket.com
Pocket.com is a handy application that I just signed up for yesterday. The tagline on their website, GetPocket.com, states "when you find something you want to view later, put it in Pocket".

The Pocket application is free, displays on multiple devices through a synced web account and can be integrated with over 500 other applications such as Twitter, Google, Flipboard, etc. 

Who is Pocket.com intended for?
Anyone who needs to save information from the Internet. Pocket.com is great for consultants, designers, content developers and teachers.


Why use Pocket.com?

In my job, I use applications like Pocket to capture things from the Web such as images, text, entire webpages, newsletters, PDFs, etc. I like that Pocket allows you capture information from your browser, from your email and from other applications. 

The Pocket interface is very user-friendly and can easily be searched. You can view your articles and webpages offline once they are saved which is a real draw. 

Image: GetPocket.com

Check out GetPocket.com. You'll need to setup a free account with your name, email and password. Like many web-based applications, it is a "freemium", meaning that there is a free version and a paid one. I think that the free version is enough for this software in that you can save information from the different sources, syncs across multiple devices, search and viewing the information. The premium version offers a permanently saved archive for all of the materials you save, advanced search features, sorted search results and viewing recent searches.

5 Quick takeaways about Pocket.com

• It helps with information capturing, searching and storing.
• It can be used across multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers.
• It syncs information across the multiple devices so you have access to the latest updates.
• It allows you to save information from your web browser, email and other applications.
• It helps you easily search information that you save in your Pocket account.

*Note: I am not an affiliate of Pocket.com.

Technologies that Promote Social Learning in Online Courses (Part 2)

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This is the second post in a series about technologies that promote social learning. The first post covered using discussion forums to encourage social learning in online courses. So to recap, what exactly is social learning? Basically, it is comprised of three situations - 

* students helping one another learn

* students inspiring and motivating each other
* students teaching each other

Research on student success in the online environment, clearly shows that students who learn socially increase their chances of success. We are the facilitators and course designers of the learning space that students find themselves in. To that end, how can we create online learning environments that encourage social learning? In this second post, I will talk about ANOTHER TECHNOLOGY for online courses that promotes social learning.

Technologies that Promote Social Learning in Online Courses (Part 1)

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I'm sure you've heard the phrase "social learning" being tossed around in the online education discourse for quite sometime. What exactly is social learning? Basically, it is comprised of three situations - 

* students helping one another learn

* students inspiring and motivating each other
* students teaching each other

In the online environment, we are the facilitators and the course designers of the learning space that students find themselves in. To that end, how can we create online learning environments that encourage social learning? In this post, I will talk about the MOST POPULAR course activity that promotes social learning and is the easiest to implement in courses.