Terence Armentano - eResume & ePortfolio

This is a great video that reveals the changes that the information revolution is having on the world. How is your university or institution adapting to these changes?

Yes, images in a textbook of the beautiful heavens are a nice way to teach about our universe, but give me a comprehensive view of the universe with real satellite images any day. Science teachers of the world; you gotta see Microsoft’s new WorldWide Telescope - a technology that combines feeds from satellites and telescopes all over the world and the heavens, and weaves them together holistically to build a comprehensive view of our universe. The TED video treats the WorldWide Telescope like something completely new, however, it appears to be very similar to the already available Google Sky, which enables you to view images of distant galaxies and nebulae from the Hubble Space Telescope, learn about the movement of the planets and the lifecycle of the stars. The advantage of Google Sky is that it works on any operating system whereas I am not sure that will be the case with Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope. Either way, I look forward to finding out which one I like better and teachers around the world should do the same.

These innovative technologies will really give students a unique, never before seen perspective, which may inspire some excited discussion in the classroom and even ignite some new motivation in students to look at studying science and technology. Again, we see the online world continue to contribute innovation to education. Just another aspect of University 2.0.

The World Wide Telescope Video

Google Sky Video

Happy 2008! I’m back from break and ready to begin a new year of exploring the horizons of technologically enhanced education, critical thinking, global impact, resource gathering, and blogging to share it all with you. To get started, here is a great list of Learning Resources you can sift through to add to your collection. Yes, the information is abundant, and seemingly endless, but those that do something with it, apply it to life, and make things better is what really counts. Plus, it is a wiki so you can add to it if you are so inclined. Institutions of higher education should be excited about an information based economy and the revolution of knowledge that is going on in the world. However, they should also be concerned if core faculty are not readily embracing it and in fact fighting the rapid exchange of information.

When designing online courses for the education environment, we are always asking ourselves how we can best communicate a message online and capture the emotion and humanness within the digital medium. The human element is crucial to a good learning environment. I found this example from the NY Times Online to be an excellent model for conveying a message using multiple forms of media to enrich our understanding. In this example, they use text, audio, video, and images within the digital medium to convey a human element through stories that impact our understanding of the situation in Iraq. As someone who reads the NY Times daily I find that more stories than not, focus on the negative aspects of the war and how much has gone wrong, so it is encouraging to see the other side presented in such a rich way and that progress is being made. If this example were incorporated into an online course, it might be followed up with discussion in the forums or an individual or class blog contribution. Those that are interested in designing online courses at universities should consider these examples and share them with your multimedia and instructional design team on your campus. View example

I was at the Sloan-C Conference this past week and I attended a presentation about Open Education Resources and more specifically the WikiEducator Project. The idea is that with the use of free networks, technology, and open educational resources, we can turn the digital divide into digital dividends. It was a very thought provoking presentation and one that every educator should know about. You can view Wayne Macintosh’s online version of the presentation here. WikiEducator Presentation. After viewing the presentation and you begin to get inspired by open content, check out this link to 20+ places to download free public domain e-books. Let us know your reaction to the WikiEducator Project by leaving a comment. I think the WikiEducator project combined with the 1 laptop per child project can provide a good framework for the bridge that stands over the digital and educational divide.

When I stated in May 2007 in a post about Blogging and Academia that “I believe blogging is going to play a much greater role in the future of academics and educational institutions,” I didn’t know exactly how soon some big name universities would be addressing the issue. Last week, Stanford University launched the Stanford Blog Directory, as a solution to capture and index the collective blogging wisdom coming out of the university community (faculty, staff, alumni, etc.). Harvard has also made some waves in the academic blogosphere by enabling anyone with a harvard.edu email address to start a blog, which is then maintained and indexed on their system. I can’t say too much right now, but I am involved in efforts at my own university to develop and facilitate an effective and innovative approach to enable and index academic blogging AND podcasting (more on that later).

One complaint about the open nature of web 2.0 is that any fool can say what they want, however, on the same token any intelligent person can say what they want as well. For this reason, premier learning institutions around the world should play a leading role in facilitating and indexing blogs for their community. Every educational institution should seriously consider creating a blog directory for faculty, staff, and alumni, so that the world can really see what kind of ideas come out of various learning communities around the world. What do others think about this issue?

VOIP technology is becoming more mainstream in social, educational, and professional capacities. One popular VOIP tool that is widely used around the world is Skype. As it is such a popular tool, developers have created add-ons for skype to enhance its abilities. So if you are a Skype user you might want to check out the following article on 50 ways of enhancing Skype.

Thanks to Dr. Bruce Edwards at BGSU for this lead. The following is an excellent list of technology tools that can be utilized for elearning. This list was compiled by 88 elearning professionals and posted at the Center for Learning and Performance Technologies. The list contains just about everything I could think of though I might add the following: iMovie, iDVD, JumpCut, Bubbleshare, Thinkature, Jott, Gabjam, Yourminis, SurveyMonkey, Google Analytics or Sitemeter, Gtalk, to name a few. Please post any thoughts you have about this list. What would you add?

This post is two fold. One, if you know me, then you know I think Google is an innovative powerhouse and posting a time line of their History and Milestones is appropriate. Second, you can check out the teaching tool xtimeline to create one of your own time lines and incorporate it into a course you are teaching.

http://www.xtimeline.com/business/Google-s-Timeline

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.