Month: December 2006

Posted on

eSN: Top 10 ed-tech stories of 2006

2006 is coming to an end real soon. so what has been the top 10 ed-tech stories stirring up in the states, read this report from eSchoolNews to find out 🙂 oh btw, Part 2 of the article goes here.
a quick glance at the ‘headlines’:

10. Cell phones: The good, the bad, and the ugly
9. One-to-one computing: Promising solution–or overhyped mistake?
8. Video-gaming in the classroom: Playing attention
7. 21st-century learning environments: Building schools of the future
6. Social-networking web sites challenge policy makers
5. Online learning comes of age, multiplying the opportunities available to students and teachers.
4. Video goes ‘viral,’ expanding the reach of college lectures–and turning ordinary students into internet celebrities.
3. Education 2.0 has arrived: The emergence of web-based services and other open technology alternatives is changing the nature of school software.
2. Disaster planning takes on added importance for schools–and technology plays a huge role.
1. Elections bring a ‘changing of the guard’: New Democratic majority in Congress set to tackle several education issues.

Posted on

Comparing Weblogs to Threaded Discussion Tools

a most commonly asked question by teachers is “what’s the difference between blogs and discussion forums?”. this article addresses this question …

Abstract
Weblogs or blogs are being heralded as the �next big thing� in education. In this article we examine the advantages and disadvantages of this form of Internet-based interaction using the Community of Inquiry model with its focus on social, cognitive and teaching presences. We conclude that blogging has distinct advantages over more common threaded discussion in its support of style, ownership and identity, and its public nature may enhance resolution phases of cognitive presence. However, its lack of safety and the current inefficiencies of linking and threading messages present greater challenges than the more familiar threaded discussion or email list. Perhaps the blog�s greatest relative advantage is for non formal and open education that takes learning beyond the traditional course.

APA-styled reference
Cameron, D., & Anderson T. (2006). Comparing weblogs to threaded discussion tools. (Online) International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning, 2(11). Retrieved December 8, 2006, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Nov_06/article01.htm

Posted on

A study on the perception of students towards educational weblogs

found this paper via my google alert:

A study on the perception of students towards educational weblogs

Abstract (part of):
“This paper investigates student perception towards the purposes of blogging. It reports an experience of introducing blogging tasks to third year computing students, and compares their perception with students not participating in the blogging tasks. A student perception model is proposed to explain the difference in the perception due to the experience in blogging. The paper concludes that mandatory use of weblogs in a course can gradually cultivate educationally sound perceptions in students despite of the observed misuse.”
Reference APA style:
Lui, A. K., Choy, S.-O., Cheung, Y. M. Y., & Li, S. C. (2006). A study on the perception of students towards educational weblogs (online). Informatics in Education, 5(2), 233-254. Retrieved December 05, 2006, from http://www.vtex.lt/informatics_in_education/pdf/INFE087.pdf

Proudly powered by WordPress