Daniel Staemmler » Education

Top Lists in the Field of Learning

Daniel Staemmler — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:48:04 +0000

Often I come across lists of free learning tools and those you have to pay for. However, they always produce a lot of retweets on Twitter. So here is a list of lists that refer to learning tools and in addition blogs that I came across:

Directory of over 3.000 Learning Tools by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT). The center was founded by Jane Hart, a Social Learning Consultant.
Multiple Top 10 Tools Lists of Learning Professionals 2009 by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologie (C4LPT). The center was founded by Jane Hart, a Social Learning Consultant.
Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education by lifehacker
Not a Top list but one that lists Web2.0 Tolls and Applications by category. Here are the ones listed under the tag #e-learning.
Top 100 education Blogs by Online Education Database (OEDb)
Top 47 eLearning & Workplace Learning Blogs by The Upside Learning Solutions Blog
Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0 – has been compiled in 2006 and is not a top list per se but a great starting point when it comes to tools useful in school settings. This is also part 1 and there are 2 more available.
Websites For Students: 10 Online Learning Tools listed by subject. Make sure to check out the comments at the bottom of this page and you find more suggestions (more and less useful).
50 of the Most Dependable Web Resources for University Students splits up into 25 research resources and 25 free Web Apps.
Searching the Internet is a common activity to inquire or learn something about a certain subject. Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need is a list of sites helping you to find what you are looking for.
Tim Stahmer’s top 101 web sites for teachers. To put it in his own words: “Not the whole web… just the best for teaching and learning“.
And last but not least a list of 12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials from Mashable

Feel free to add to this list in the comment box below. Additions are always welcome

Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning

Daniel Staemmler — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:30:50 +0000

The U.S. Department of Education published in May 2009 a meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Under evaluation were empirical studies published during the years 1996 till mid of 2008.

“The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instructions.“

Key findings have been nicely and straight to the point summarized by Donald Clark.

Baby Boomers & Generation X is so yesterday. Millennials are next!

Daniel Staemmler — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:52:41 +0000

I came across this very well put together video a little while ago. It is about the generation that is moving into power as you read this: Generation We.

In 2015 in America (I believe the U.S. that is) 74 Million people are considered to be part of the population group Baby Boomers. They have been born between 1946 – 1964. This group is followed by the Generation X which incorporated all those born between 1965 and 1977. In the eBook “Generation We” by Eric Greenberg with Karl Weber the Generation X group is considered “… a politically and socially conservative cohort that has struggled to define itself against the vast and dominant Boomer group it followed.” I this makes me part of this group. I never considered myself to struggle with my place in society nor feeling suppressed by my parents generation.. However, the new Generation are the Millennials born between the years 1978 till 2000. What this generation has to deal with and what their opportunities are is shown in the video below.

Eric Greenberg is using the online social networking to promote the Millennials as the Gen(eration) We and to activate members of this section of the population. This generation will be more diverse than any other before (White 63%, Hispanic 18%, Black 14%, Asian 5%).Their education is good and who would have guessed that, they will are also the most wired ones. Interested in more about Gen We? Take a look in to the above mentioned eBook.

All these facts and predictions are of interest when we take a look into online learning and the ease this generation is using technology in the educational field. Generation X needs to shape up to find the right ways to cater towards the next generations needs. a simple PowerPoint presentation based in a flash widget and maybe some underlying sound does not seem to be enough anymore. More so the opportunity for learners to interact with each other and the content itself while learning. Rearranging content while discussing and arguing for the right solution seems more the way to get cognitively involved than simply absorb some fixed and inflexible content.