Terence Armentano - eResume & ePortfolio

For the full screen version go here - http://voicethread.com/view.php?b=2628

Also, don’t be scared off by the register button. It is really easy to register. You don’t even have to go to another page.

People often ask me if I am worried that people will cheat in my online courses. The question of academic honesty is a good one and one that is not exclusive to any particular environment. It has always been my position that it will be online technologies that deter cheating more than anything we’ve ever seen. I believe that as our technology matures it will be more difficult to cheat online than it would be to cheat in a physical classroom. If you know anyone that is in high school or college, ask them how difficult it is to cheat and how many people they think cheat. Ask them how students do it. I assure you the numbers will be high and their techniques will be pretty innovative. Regardless of the environment, cheaters find ways to cheat. Personally, I think that if they applied their innovative spirit for discovering new ways to cheat to thinking critically about coursework, they would probably be quite successful. I also blame teachers that design extremely boring courses that rely too heavily on purely quantitative forms of assessment, but that is a different post all together.

In a previous post about University 2.0, I briefly discussed how online technologies would deter cheating more than ever before, and the following article by CNN describes how this is being done currently. “The new development is a small Web cam and microphone that is set up where a student takes the exam. The camera points into a reflective ball, which allows it to capture a full 360-degree image.” I believe this is one of the first of many innovations to come in curbing cheating in any environment. Just like cheaters will have to come up with new ways of cheating, people that are anti-online education will have to find new reasons to hate on it. Read the full article. http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/19/online.testing.camera.ap/index.html

“Online degrees like those offered by Almeda University have taken the continent by storm. For many years, there have been questions and reservations about Online Degrees–but no longer. The corner has been turned and Online Degrees are now not only acceptable and accepted, but desired and desirable.” Read more

Though the following article reads sort of like an advertisement for Almeda University, the basic premise of it is on target. Articles like this one are going become more and more common over the next couple years. Technology is connecting people and learning can happen virtually anywhere. (no pun intended). The universities that “get it”, understand that its about more than having the ability to use technology to teach at a distance but that it’s about using technology to enhance the student experience and the overall quality of learning for all students. If you missed it, view my University 2.0 post for more on this topic.

A seven-inch PC from Asus Eee that only cost $199. Pretty cool.

I really enjoyed the video these guys did earlier on RSS in Plain English. They are back with another really easy to understand video on Wikis. This is nice because I have recently incorporated the use of a wiki in my BGSU Online Faculty Training Program so instructors can get familiar with using a wiki. I like their description of why they created this video, “We made this video because wiki web sites are easy to use, but hard to describe. We hope to turn you on to a better way to plan a camping trip, or create the next Wikipedia” Enjoy the video–

I will be presenting at the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison, WI. The title of my presentation is: Institutional partnering for success in distance education degree program development.

Feedburner is an excellent resource for bloggers and now google owns them too. You know all of those little subscription icons on the right hand side of the screen. Feedburner creates those and makes it easy for people to subscribe. “Chicago-based FeedBurner is a leading provider of feed distribution and management tools. A web feed is a way for online publishers to syndicate their content and deliver it straight to readers. Each day, FeedBurner delivers feeds to millions of users around the world and offers unique and useful tools for publishers to analyze, optimize, and monetize their content. Further, FeedBurner offers a feed advertising platform for advertisers to reach engaged feed readers through targeted in-feed ads and innovative techniques like RSS feed-driven ads. Read entire article