Online Ed.

a year later...

2010-04-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Related Links and Articles

Despite a large community of users, I've found few articles actually explain how Moodle works in everyday language. Below you'll find a few useful ones.

* Read about why San Francisco State University .
* Early papers from its creator.
* Moodle Buzz contains More than 100 articles and interviews on Moodle in many different languages.

Moodle is just one of many free CMS systems listed on opensourcecms.com.

Moodle- Free, Open Source Course Mgmt System for E-learning

2009-03-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Moodle gets WizIQ

WizIQ is now compatible with Moodle.

And, now a word from the videos sponsor:

"About This Video
What can you teach in your own Web 2.0 virtual ...

What can you teach in your own Web 2.0 virtual classroom at http://www.wiziq.com? New education whiteboard technology for online collaboration, which costs nothing and requires no downloads; teach in a browser in Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux. Share PowerPoint presentations and PDF tutorials on the interactive whiteboard. Use with Moodle for online teaching and e-learning. WiZiQ is similar to existing tools like Webex and Elluminate, but WiZiQ is absolutely free."

Moodle Class Management System

2009-02-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a content (or course) mangement system.

As a learner, when I was first assigned by my instructor to become part of a group and as a member of a group, conceded to assume a responsible to participate as a team player.

We, the group, were to go off into our own little virtual space and create things for each other (social constructionist), and the end product was designated by the instructor to be the basis for our grade.

Moodle, provided the activity modules we had available to create these documents. We chatted real-time (asynchronous discussion), it was interesting to watch, how some students would take what seemed like forever, to post a comment, others would ‘step on others’ midstream, but we stuck it out, and covered, who would do what and when, so we could complete this crazy teachers directions.

Next, we moved on to our Wikis which allowed us students to work together on collaboratively-authored project, and put the plan into action, several times we had to refer to the automatically generated text document from our chat session to review our plan.

As the weeks progressed we uploaded assignments. we participated in workshops, journalized on our own blogs, and uploaded graphic files, spreadsheets and flash content to incorporate in our group documents.

Our group glossary came in very handy, come time for quizzes which offered the instructor several options for automatic and manual scoring. I don't know how all of my co-workers fared in the course, but I aced the class, and learned a whole lot more than I would have, had I been left on my own.

The first thing I did after that class was get an online hosting service, my own url, and installed Moodle on it, who’da ever thought I’d own my own virtual learning environment?

Microsoft Access 2007

2008-10-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Access 2007

Student Learning Outcomes for Lesson 1 - 3

Upon successful completion of the first 3 lessons, the student will:

Lesson 1

Describe the Access 2000, “Getting Started Window” (Office Button, New)
Label and define the elements of the Access 2007 user-interface
Choose a template database from Microsoft Office (you must be using Microsoft's Web browser to use this service).
Make design changes to templates in Access 2007
Demonstrate mastery of database terminology.

Lesson 2

Define the term “Relational Database”
Demonstrate knowledge of “Database Normalization Theory”
Plan, design and create a new relational database, based on user needs, based on user needs. (Assignment 4)
Plan, design and create tables and forms for new database.

Lesson 3

Import data into tables from Excel spreadsheets.
Query a database using different methods. (Video)
Generate user specified reports. (Video)

CSS 2.1 selectors

2008-10-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Among the first things we need to learn about when starting out with CSS, are the selectors.

Selectors are obviously a fundamental part of CSS, but few developers use them to their full potential. While you can get a lot done with just the type, ID, and class selectors, there are many more.

http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200509/css_21_selectors_part_1/
http://www.evotech.net/blog/2007/04/css-best-practices/
http://www.tizag.com/cssT/selector.php

What are business doing to improve their information-management practices?

2008-10-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

How do companies deal with information management? Jonathan Steel, chief executive of technology-research firm The Bathwick Group, gives insights based on a recent ZDNet.co.uk benchmark survey.

Steel looks at how important data management is to IT and business, how companies approach protection of critical data, and what they are doing to improve their information-management practices.

With the economy going south, offering them ideas for better information-management practices seems like a good service to offer clients.

Shout out to the community at zdnet.co.uk

2008-10-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

http://community.zdnet.co.uk/ is a internet resource for lifelong learners on a wide variety of tech orientated topics.

It was during a visit to the community were I first learned about the newest version offering of Open Office, the free alternative to Micro$oft Office.

They write that:

OpenOffice 3 is the first version of the suite with some compatibility with the Office Open XML (OOXML) document format that is created in the latest version of Microsoft Office, a paid-for alternative to OpenOffice. These documents are identifiable by their extension having an added 'x', as with the .docx format shown above.

While OpenOffice 3 can read OOXML documents, however, it cannot create or save to them.

Also of note is the new Open Office PDF export facility, the Calc (spreadsheet program) now offers a "solve it" function for complex calculations, and the chart function — used across several of the applications within the suite — has been given a visual revamp. The full story is here.

Feeling better and back at work.

2008-10-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the emails offering encouragement, good wishes, and acts of random kindness, I will always remember your kindnesses. I am feeling much stronger now, and back at work. Many projects have grown dusty and need immediate attention.

The first one is developing a web presence at slideshare dot net. I'm starting up that presence with a slide show summarizing my experiment with positioning boxes with CSS.

I have not worked with CSS very much, and learning the subject online has been very rewarding. I will be leaving the footprints of the journey with snippets of code from the urls of the various sources where the subject was introduced to me. As always your emails with other suggestions are appreciated. thompson.monte@gmail.com.

Study: Cheapest Place to buy Textbooks

2008-07-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Campus Grotto has conduced a study to help determine the answer to this age old question: Where is the cheapest place to buy textbooks online?

It seems every online textbook seller claims to be one of the cheapest places to buy textbooks. So, lets find out for a fact who sells the cheapest textbooks. We selected 10 major online textbook sellers and compared prices of four selected textbooks from various subjects.
The textbooks used in this study are:

Title ISBN

Book A Biology 0073227390

Book B Contemporary Business 0324359292

Book C Essentials of Psychology 0618713123

Book D Intermediate Accounting 0471749559

See the results here. Disclaimer: I make zero for providing this link; darn it.

Author of 7 Habit's of Highly Successful People opens social network site

2008-07-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Because I enjoyed his book, 7 Habit's of Highly Successful People, so much, I was very excited to learn that Stephen Covey has announced the official launch of stephencovey.com, a first-of-its-kind social networking and online learning community that gives individuals an opportunity to learn first-hand as he personally teaches them the principles of setting, tracking and achieving personal goals. Registration is very quick and simple, and instant access is provided once registered.

By recognizing and embracing the role that social networking communities now have in society, Covey has given individuals the ability to learn and implement his life changing 7 Habits principles. They can now participate in an uplifting and inspiring Web 2.0 setting that is comfortable, where they control the pace and where they can literally interact with other people around the world who are trying to achieve similar goals.

Homework assignment for the Fundamentals of Online Teaching and Learning class

2008-07-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Know what students want, and give it to them. That is my coaching mantra, and when it comes to learning we know that the Net Generation enjoys participating in social networks, the popularity of social networking sites like, YouTube, Flcker, MySpace, and Facebook, prove that to be true. Research suggests that when students' blog on topics they have an interest in, great things happen; they write more often, with more depth, the quantity of their writing increases, and students tend to take greater care with spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Once we get to know our students, we can provide topic suggestions for a students blog, if the blog assignment comes early in a semester, we may ask the students to choose a course related topic; when the student is given the opportunity to write on a topic that really intrests them - they will have an interest in the subject material, and they will write, and as they write more often, they will write better.

As an online student, I find that I put much more thought into which word's I choose to use, in those instances when I am writing on a topic that I feel some passion with, I revisit those word's more often because I anticipate some thoughtful discussion occurring concerning the material.

As, our instructor wrote in a wonderful PowerPoint presentation, entitled Candlepower, addressing asynchronous communications tools, such as student blog's and class forum's, when the student communicates using asynchronous tools, they feel no need to " rush to respond within seconds. The content can be reflected upon and considered non-judgmentally. This is a key component to the quality of communication that occurs in this format. People actually listen."

A good conversation takes place when all the participate actually listen, and only after hearing do they respond, they then choose the words they will speak carefully and deliberately.

Creativity, and exploratory thought are nurtured, when the students work together in groups on the task of creating in the blogosphere, when they are encouraged to read each others posts, and then comment on each others posts,

When I return to the classroom, as the teacher, I will be offering online training using both asynchronous and synchronous communications tools, they each have their purpose, and stimulate various learning styles,

Material considered to complete this assignment include:

Create your own customized motivational posters.

2008-07-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

The Motivator website, allows you through the magic of Web 2 technology to upload an image, and create your own motivational poster.

Online training assessments.

2008-07-18T07:38:00.001-07:00

AD Net of the UK, has a very interesting read on the subject of Online training assessments.
I mention that not only to remind myself to write about the subject, but to share it with anyone who happens to wander onto this page.

Read the piece

Social capital

2008-07-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

The first known use of the concept was by L. J. Hanifan, state supervisor of rural schools in West Virginia. Writing in 1916 Hanifan urged the importance of community involvement for successful schools, Hanifan invoked the idea of "social capital" to explain why. For Hanifan, social capital referred to;

those tangible substances [that] count for most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit....The individual is helpless socially, if left to himself....If he comes into contact with his neighbor, and they with other neighbors, there will be an accumulation of social capital, which may immediately satisfy his social needs and which may bear a social potentiality sufficient to the substantial improvement of living conditions in the whole community. The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors.

The World Bank, a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world, offers this definition of.;

"The social capital of a society includes the institutions, relationships, attitudes and values that govern interactions among people and contribute to economic and social development. It includes the shared values and rules for social conduct expressed in personal relationships, trust and a common sense of "civic" responsibility, that makes a society more than a collection of individuals".

In his book Bowling Alone.Robert Putnam, professor of sociology at Harvard, claims the U.S. population is becoming increasingly isolated and less empathetic toward its fellow citizens, that is often angrier and less willing to unite in communities or as a nation.

Putmam concludes his analysis with a concise set of potential solutions, such as educational programs, work-based initiatives and funded community-service programs, offering a ray of hope in what he perceives to be a dire situation.

With this cry of urgency, we as educators owe our students a way out of this isolation, which many find themselves intertwined in, writing tools such as blogs and group forums are a great introduction to the creativity and networking options available

Record, playback and inset recoring onto your web pages

2008-07-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

"The Gong Project - NanoGong
NanoGong is an applet that can be used by someone to record, playback and save their voice, in a web page. When the recording is played back the user can speed up or slow down the sound without changing it.

The applet can be used on a web page by itself or as an integrated component in Moodle, the most popular open source learning management system."

For information on using NanoGong in Moodle environment visit http://gong.ust.hk/nanogong/moodle.html

I have registered for the download, and once I get it up and running will post my thoughts on the software.

Social Learning

2008-07-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

I think we can look at this year's presidential elections, and see how the Knowledge Economy, is having a major impact on our country (check out the Tech President's Blog RSS feed in the top of this blog's right column). The candidates are using this technology not only to inform, but to learn in a way that has never before happened, and it may well be the deciding factor in this year's elections. The people that make that technology work, have to be life long learners, because the technology itself changes so rapidly. With the advent of web 2 technology, more and more people are taking advantage of it to learn, to create and to share.

Online classes are taking advantage of this technology by implementing learning solutions that go beyond the traditional paradigms of training (Rosenberg, 2001), products such as Socialtext facilitate 'the power of mass productivity'.

I teach an administrative assistant program, the curriculum that has proven most successful is to present problems in real life situations, this strategy not only motivates the students, but it allows the student to apply their new knowledge in every day life, and to learn problem solving skills. In today's knowledge economy, we want to create, collaborate and share our thoughts and work product, tools such as Zoho are available, and I will be implementing Zoho in my curriculum. All of the applications of Microsoft Office are available online with Zoho, and will serve my students as they work towards those goals.

A very interesting look at the state of Web 2 Technology is the list and links to the 100 best Web 2.0 applications, chosen by Webware readers and Internet users across the globe. Over 1.9 million votes were cast to select these Webware 100 winners:

Lifelong learning is no longer just for the curious, it is a requirement for all those who aspire to be successful in today's economy. The skills required today, will change next year, and the year after that.

I believe that educators should focus more on teaching students intra-personal skills and to collaborate together in pursuit of a common goal. To teach students the power of synergy (the result of joint activities that goes beyond the sum of individual activities, making efforts more effective and efficient.¹)

Student need to learn how to learn, to understand which method of learning is most effective for them, time management skills, and how to effectively communication, and develop analytical skills, they will need those skills throughout their work lives.

Probably as important is the need for a real world demonstration of the rewards for working hard in class, and mastering the course material, and the encouragement that will help them succeed. I use outsider resources, such as temporary employment agencies, and human resource executives to come and speak to my classes. When they hear, the people who have the authority to hire them explain that the material being taught in class will open many doors for them, it seems to really sink in to their inner being.

When my students graduate, I don't say goodbye, I tell them to work hard, and come back to school soon.

¹ www.unep.org/dec/onlinemanual/Resources/Glossary/tabid/69/Default.aspx

Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment)

2008-03-20T16:52:00.001-07:00

Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is an open-source (free) Content Mangement System (CMS), for educators. Moodle is available in a variety of download packages with different levels of stability, as well as via CVS. A number of additional modules/plugins and language packs are also available.

Most of the links in this blog post are to Moodle.org, a quick and painless sign-up, with no spam e-mailings can be accomplished here.

As an online learner, I became intrigued with the CMA that my college was using to facilitate our learning. So, when I learned about their Online Educator Program, I signed up, one of my favorite courses in the program was the Moddle design course.

Moodle, provided the activity modules and we eagerly explored each one. We chatted real-time (asynchronous discussion), it was interesting to watch, how some students would take what seemed like forever, to post a comment, others would ‘step on others’ midstream, but we stuck it out, and became familiar with the the chat module, and really enjoyed the experience.

Next, we moved on to our Wikis which allowed us students to work together on collaboratively-authored project, and put the plan into action, several times we had to refer to the automatically generated text document from our chat session to review our plan.

As the weeks progressed we uploaded assignments. we participated in workshops, journalized on our own blogs, and uploaded graphic files, spreadsheets and flash content to incorporate in our group documents.

Our group glossary came in very handy, come time for quizzes which offered the instructor several options for automatic and manual scoring. I don't know how all of my co-workers fared in the course, but I aced the class, and learned a whole lot more than I would have, had I been left on my own.

An excellent learning resource for Moodler instructors is titled Using Moodle and is now available for download as a zipped PDF file: Using Moodle (approx 4MB), alternatively you can browse the book online (Flash required) via Issuu.com.

A very interesting read, entitled The Pretty Good Teacher, who wanted to be an even better teacher, in introduced and inspired to use Moodle, who one day, read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for, and the wonderful experiences that resulted..

I don't know what will come of my own Moodle campus, but I do know that the possibilities are limited only by myself. I love Moodle, and have a lot to learn in as short as time as possible. I’m comfortable that, I’m in the right place.

oop's

2008-03-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

this event has been canceled, hmmmm'

Orbital’s “The Box.

2008-03-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Orbital’s “The Box.”...a brilliant bit of short film making here - deftly captures the anomie and alienation of the postmodern urban wasteland. It’s almost magical how we can be so isolated from a character and so connected all at the same time.

Web 2 application - Photoshop clone online image editor- Splashup

2008-02-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

My favorite new web 2 application find, is an online image editing package program called Splashup I tried it out, and I really like it a lot. I can't find any documentation or tutorials on it, so if you happen on to any, please let me know.

"http://www.cogniview.com/ writes that Splashup, formerly Fauxto, is a powerful editing tool and photo manager. With all the features professionals use and novices want, it’s easy to use, works in real-time and allows you to edit many images at once. Splashup runs in all browsers, integrates seamlessly with top photosharing sites, and even has its own file format so you can save your work in progress."

and several other sites reviews for your consideration (and bookmark, if your so inclined :>)

http://www.tutorialstop.com... writes that " SplashUp is the hip new graphics editing program that lets you edit your photographs from any Internet enabled computer. This web-based application simply requires a browser, some graphics, and a pinch of creativity.

I like the fact that you can skip the sign-up process to give it a spin. For a web-based application I found SplashUp had some serious editing tools. The application supports layers, filters, blend modes, and multi-image support. It was also surprisingly responsive (fast)"

and Lifehacker review "Edit your images on the fly online with Splashup, a web-based image editor that integrates with Flickr, Facebook, and Picasa. Splashup offers up a surprising array of image editing tools, far beyond the usual crop of resize and contrast— you can also edit multiple images, play with filters and layers, use a variety of brushes, and more. Splashup is one of the best image editors in a long line of image editors; i.e., Picnik, Pixoh, and Resizr, to name just a few.

Let me just note that it is a bit of a RAM hog, so I'd suggest you save your work often, but then we should always do that, right? What's your favorite online image editor or other Web 2 application?

Convert Media Files to Embeddable Flash with Moonk

2008-02-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Convert Media Files to Embeddable Flash with Moonk
Source:Lifehacker

Moonk, a free Flash conversion application, serves as a one-stop shop to turn your photos, videos, or music into slick-looking embeddable boxes. Sure, YouTube and a wealth of other hosting sites can do much the same, but for those who don't want to add their videos or other media to a search-able site or mess with privacy settings, Moonk lets simply make your media files web-playable. New users get 500 MB of storage—pretty generous, considering the small size of the Flash output. I also like the uncluttered interface and straight-forward conversion tools, compared to similar tools of its kind. Moonk is a free service, but requires a sign-up to use.

Lifehacker.com,/a>

The Web & The Election

2008-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

The Web & The Election - Intitial Conditions and the Web

The author Rob Paterson demonstrates the Fibonacci Curve –and defines it as “ it is the ideal growth to full potential curve that Nature uses in all systems. There is a lesson here for all politicians and it is established by the dynamics of the Obama campaign.”

If you are interested in Web 2 technology and politics, you may find this blog to be entertaining, informative, and fun. I am majoring in the former, and being a political junkie, I find the whole thing fascinating.

The author concludes that: “For the first time since the early years of the republic, it is possible with the right candidate to have a president who is not beholden to the lobbyists! It is now possible to raise more money via the web than from the lobbyists.

Such a new reality will affect in the end all politicians and all races everywhere. The web will enable retail politics again.”

As I read the post, I thought of this chart again,:

- Federal politicians mesmerized by "the most remarkable political event bar none in U.S. history," as James Carville recently put it, say they´re keeping an eye on the presidential candidates´ powerful use of the internet to fundraise and to engage supporters.

Read the post at: http://www.fastforwardblog.com/

Filed under Election 2008, Politics

Creative Commons

2008-02-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."

One such project is at Flicr where many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through photos under each type of license. 184 groups of such licensed work can be found by clicking on the image above.

Turn virtually any image into vector art...free

2008-02-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

Web site VectorMagic turns virtually any image into vector art that can be resized as much as you want without any nasty pixelation—perfect for creating your scanned signature, for example. The site is free and simple to use, but for a bit more detail check out their how to introductory video. Whether you are trying to perfect your scanned signature or you've got a logo or design you want to be able to resize indefinitely, VectorMagic will do the trick. VectorMagic can be used on photographs to interesting effect, but count on losing some detail.

Resume writing ideas…

2007-12-05T09:35:00.001-08:00

Tech Republic

Never get enough nerd news? You might enjoy a visit to this excellent blog, over at Tech Blog.

Today’s post is a relevant to this blogs purpose, a story entitled 10 tips for writing a job-winning developer resume, here are 3 of the ideas to give you an idea of the content:

#10: “What a geek!”

In high school, you may have hated being called a geek. But today, you are trying to find work as a programmer. “Geek” is “gold” to hiring managers. Find a way to show them that you are smart, love programming, and are constantly growing, learning, and exploring new ideas. Talk about your relevant hobbies if you have any, like contributing to open source projects or volunteering to teach local kids programming. Let them know if you like programming or computers enough to deal with them outside of work.

It is a really simple equation for the hiring manager. While two candidates may be equal today, the candidate with passion will be far more advanced tomorrow than the candidate who treats it as “just a job.”

#2: Make the experience interesting

Most developers on the market have written a data-driven Web site or desktop application. To give a bunch of examples of these on your resume is not impressive. What does impress a potential employer is experience that has something unique about it, showing you’ve done more than just “Hello World” level work. If you’ve been working under unique constraints or in environments with high levels of transactions or zero tolerance for failure, that looks very good to the person reading the resume. So show me how your experience is different, and I will see you as different.

#1: Provide a skills list up front

The hiring manager wants to know if you have the skills the company is looking for. An “experience” section gives managers a good idea of how much experience you have, but if you have a “skills” section at the top of the resume, their eyes go there first. Sure, you may be making it a bit easier for them to weed out your resume. But on the flip side, you might bring to their attention some skills they would otherwise overlook. At the very least, the hiring manager will appreciate the skills list.

	Title	ISBN
Book A	Biology	0073227390
Book B	Contemporary Business	0324359292
Book C	Essentials of Psychology	0618713123
Book D	Intermediate Accounting	0471749559