YouTube: Concept Scope and Features of Distance Education
Friday, September 23, 2011
Campus Technology Free Podcast: Blackboard Collaborate: Helping higher education do more with less
In this podcast, Rajeev Arora, vice president of marketing and strategy for Blackboard Collaborate, explains how Blackboard Collaborate can help higher learning institutions tackle Web conferencing, voice authoring and instant messaging, and how the solution helps colleges and universities stretch IT budgets farther than ever before.
Learning Online Info: Three Valuable Web Tools for Improved Online Learning
As the web continues to evolve and mature, the tools that expand humanity’s options for learning and knowledge grow exponentially. If you think back just 15 short years, answering a quick question about the world required cracking open a dusty old encyclopedia. There was a 50/50 chance that the information it contained was still correct, and you could never rely on encyclopedias to learn about new or breaking information.
Today, to learn something new, we simply Google it or check with others on Twitter, Facebook, Quora, etc. Rarely, when we need a quick answer, do we pull a book off the shelf. These online tools and communities are becoming so efficient at distributing fresh, quality information, that society has completely changed its go-to sources for knowledge.
What I’d like to share today are three online tools that are real game-changers in terms of learning and enhancing your knowledge. These websites span areas such as English grammar, foreign languages, and computer literacy. Whether you use them independently, or as an enhancement to existing online learning you may already be taking, diving into each of these tools can be very valuable for gaining insight and experience into specific topics.
Grammar Improvement
The first tool that is a regular go-to for me is Grammarly. Grammarly is a spelling, grammar, and plagiarism tool all rolled up into a single interface. In terms of usability, it couldn’t be simpler. Simply paste text into the window and click ‘start’. What you get back is the standard spelling and grammar issues, but also rich information on your writing style, tips for improvement, and very advanced reporting on your work. With online learning, this is a great tool to be your final ‘proof reader’ before submitting a document.
Language Learning
Have you heard of LiveMocha? Imagine a social network like Facebook, except instead of connecting with friends, you are connecting with people who want to communicate in other languages.
For example, lets say you speak English but are learning Spanish. The rate at which you learn the new language would skyrocket if you were continually communicating with someone who spoke Spanish fluently. Now, there is very likely someone out there who speaks Spanish fluently, and is trying to learn English. Doesn’t it make all the sense in the world for you both to work on your language learning together?
This is the basic premise behind LiveMocha. In addition to connecting people who want to help each other improve their learning of a second language, there are also training modules, games, and other tools that help you learn faster than just a textbook and translation dictionary.
Online Training Courses
There’s nothing like a good video training course when you are trying to learn something technical. While lectures and labs help, sometimes you just really need to see someone else do it (and have a rewind button handy!). More and more people are using Lynda.com to learn and become proficient with a wide-range of technical skills. From Excel and Photoshop to PHP coding and database development, if you are trying to learn something technical, there is a very good chance that Lynda.com has a course that will help you along your way.
These tools are just three that we feel breathe new life into the options for learning a skill. The days of encyclopedias, textbooks, and lectures being the only way to learn are long gone. These great social and rich-media technologies are empowering students to learn in new and innovative ways that didn’t exist just a few short years ago!
Brian Patterson is a web and IT consultant, passionate about new and innovative technologies. From working with federal agencies on large enterprise applications, to small businesses with small websites, his experience has run the gamut in the IT world. Brian is a partner at MangoCo, an web consulting agency.
Tomorrow's Professor: Organizing Higher Education for Collaboration: A Guide for Campus Leaders
Folks:
The posting below is a review by Connie D. Foster of the book, Organizing Higher Education for Collaboration: A Guide for Campus Leaders, by Adrianna J. Kezar and Jaime Lester. The review appeared in April/June, 2010 issue of Planning for Higher Education 38(3): 66-68. Copyright © 1998-2010 by Society for College and University Planning ( www.scup.org ). Reprinted with permission. Planning for Higher Education book reviews appear at:( www.scup.org/phe ).
Regards,
Rick Reis
reis@stanford.edu
Dillard University CTLAT Workshop: Promotion and Tenure at Dillard University
11am-1:00pm
September 30th, 2011
Kearny Hall West/Working Lunch
Presenters: Drs. Mona Lisa Saloy & Keith Weismar
Facilitators: Drs. Eartha Johnson and Steve Buddington
Dillard University Promotion and Tenure Timetable 2011-2012
Request for Proposals - Sophomore Summer 2012 Policy Institute: UNCF Special Programs Corporation (UNCFSP)
The UNCF Special Programs Corporation (UNCFSP) seeks a partner organization or higher education institution to administer the Sophomore Summer Policy Institute (SSPI) component of its Institute for International Public Policy Fellowship Program. UNCFSP administers the Institute under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education. As the first of six Fellowship Program components, SSPI provides an introduction to international affairs concepts and practices to a cohort of 25 student Fellows who have just completed their sophomore year of college. The 25 Fellows are selected through a national competition. Upon acceptance to the fellowship, new Fellows begin the program with a seven-week residential academic program.
The SSPI will introduce Fellows to the basics of international policy development, foreign affairs, study abroad, cultural competence, careers in these fields, and options for graduate study. To assist Fellows in putting what they learn at SSPI into context, the awardee will coordinate a field experience in Washington, DC called the Study Mission, which exposes Fellows to a variety of international affairs organizations, including government agencies and nonprofit organizations/NGOs. The SSPI program runs annually from early June through mid July. Please visit http://www.uncfsp.org/iipp-sspi to download the full announcement.
_______________________________________
Nicholas M. Bassey, Director
Institute for International Public Policy
UNCF Special Programs Corporation
6402 Arlington Boulevard, Suite 600
Falls Church, VA 22042
www.uncfsp.org
Diverse Issues in Higher Education: Black Meeting House in Boston Restored
September 22, 2011
By Bob Salsberg
BOSTON — The nation's oldest existing Black church building, where the abolitionist movement gathered steam in the 19th century and where the first Black Civil War regiment had its roots, is nearing completion of a restoration project done with the help of $4 million in federal stimulus funds.
Gov. Deval Patrick on Monday toured the renovated African Meeting House, a three-story brick building constructed in 1806 in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood and standing just blocks from the Massachusetts Statehouse.
The meeting house, a national historic landmark, is “an extraordinary piece of our Commonwealth's history, the history of African-American people and the history of freedom in the western world,” said Patrick, the state's first Black governor.
During his tour, the governor was shown examples of the painstaking detail that went into the project, including the restoration or replication of all original pews, wall finishes and cast-iron posts in the 1,500-square-foot building.
John Waite, whose Albany, N.Y.-based architectural firm specializes in historical preservation, said paint chips were examined through a high-powered microscope and chemically analyzed in an effort to determine the color of the original paint on the walls so it could be duplicated in the restoration.
The site is scheduled to reopen to the public Dec. 6, the 205th anniversary of the founding of the meeting house, said Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director of the Museum of African American History.
“The meeting house was used, of course, as a place of worship, but also as a place of school, for lectures, for music, opera even,” Welch said. “But, most importantly, to gather around the discussions to bring slavery to an end in this nation.”
“When you walk inside and walk into that sanctuary, you're going to walk directly up the aisle where Frederick Douglass walked and talked about what needed to be done to end slavery,” she said.
“On the very same floor boards,” Patrick added.
Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison were among the leading abolitionists who spoke at the meeting house and helped form the New England Anti-Slavery Society. Leaders later met there to help create the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which fought in the Civil War and was chronicled in the 1989 film “Glory.”
About half of the $9.5 million cost of the restoration came from private donations, Welch said. The remainder was provided by the National Park Service, including the $4 million in stimulus funds.
Among the surprises discovered during the project was a chimney dating back to the time when the building was heated by cast-iron stoves; the chimney had stayed hidden behind a wall for decades.
Sold late in the 19th century, the building housed a synagogue until 1972, when it was purchased by the Museum of African American History.
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