Periodic Fable

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

eXe - for creating elearning NOTan .exe. file!

The project eXe has been brought to my attention. A New Zealand-based open source authoring application, it aims to assist teachers and academics in the publishing of web content without the need to become proficient in HTML or XML markup. Resources authored in eXe can be exported in IMS Content Package, SCORM 1.2, or IMS Common Cartridge formats or as simple self-contained web pages. Obviously an alternative to CouseLab which I looked at last week.

I'm testing out both to compare, and will report back in due course (though don't hold your breath as I'm pretty busy and will have to spread this research over some time!)
Labels: e-learning, e-learning tools, elearning, elearning tools, eXe, learning technologies, tools

posted by Helen Whitehead 5:38 PM

(0) comments

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Free learning objects to use in your courses

Reusability and tools for designing reusable learning objects

Best resources

CETIS
http://www.cetis.ac.uk/ JISC centre for educational technology and interoperability standards

Intute

http://www.intute.ac.uk/ is a free online service providing you with access to the very best Web resources for education and research. The service is created by a network of UK universities and partners.

Jorum

http://www.jorum.ac.uk

Collection of reusable learning objects contributed by UK HE

MERLOT
http://www.merlot.org/Home.po MERLOT is a large, high-quality repository of learning materials for teachers and students in higher education worldwide. Resource types include tutorials, animations, and simulations, as well as books and websites. Each resource is peer-reviewed to ensure that it's of sufficient quality for inclusion. Resources are sorted by categories and sub-categories, with the categories probably of most interest to School staff being Health Science and Biology.

RELOAD

http://www.reload.ac.uk/ is a project funded under the JISC Exchange for Learning Programme (X4L). The project focuses on the development of tools that are based on emerging learning technology interoperability specifications. (See also tools section)

Re-usable Educational Software Library

http://www.resl.ac.uk/ Re-usable Educational Software Library

Welcome to RESL - a library of resources to support good practice in the re-use of educational software

Came out of the SoURCE project: http://www.source.ac.uk

RLO-CETL

http://www.rlo-cetl.ac.uk/

Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs)

has a showcase of RLOS http://www.rlo-cetl.ac.uk/rlos.htm

Sharing the Load
http://www.ucel.ac.uk/load/index.htm A JISC-funded project exploring the reusability of learning designs. It is creating a learning design taxonomy based on designs implicit in existing collections of mature reusable learning content. Using these designs as a starting point, 'real-world' learning designs will be captured in workshops, and exemplars will be created using the ones that are the most shareable across subjects.

TASI - Technical Advisory Service for Images
http://www.tasi.ac.uk A JISC-funded service to help people use digital images for teaching and learning materials. TASI provides online advice documents, image sites, a helpdesk, training, consultancy services, and a mailing list. For help see their website, or email info@tasi.ac.uk

Wisconsin Online Resource Center
http://www.wisc-online.com/ A large, searchable repository of learning objects in wide range of subjects, all implemented in Flash (as is much of the website). You have to register to use the site, but this is free, and you can deep-link to objects within the site.

Tools for creating Reusable Learning Objects

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/xerte/ free tools for creating rich, interactive elearning content for the Flash platform.

RELOAD tools (ww.reload.ac.uk)

RELOAD Metadata and Content Packaging Editor

The key aim of the RELOAD project is the implementation of a reference-standard Content Package and Metadata Editor. The RELOAD Editor enables users to organise, aggregate and package learning objects in standard IMS and SCORM content packages tagged with Metadata (in various subsets) and vocabularies. Also supported is Level A Learning Design. The editor page links to all the downloads and further information.

RELOAD Learning Design Editor

The Learning Design Editor (based on the IMS Learning Design specifications) allows the creation of re-usable "Pedagogical Templates" allowing the user to define a set of Learning Objectives, Activities and Learning Environments. These templates can be re-purposed with the user's own content to create on-line Learning Design compliant resources. The LD Editor is available from the download page.

RELOAD SCORM Player

Also available is an ADL SCORM Player. This toolkit allows the playing of SCORM 1.2 packages within a developer edition of the Player. The player page links to all the downloads and further information.

Repositories

List- http://www.jimmyr.com/free_education.php

AEShareNet. Australian Web site that connects those looking for learning objects to those who have them, with an online facility for licensing.

Apple Learning Interchange. Apple Computer's effort to encourage the interchange of ideas related to learning objects with "a museum of online exhibits created by educators for educators." http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/

Connexions is a place to view and share educational material made of small knowledge chunks called modules that can be organized as courses, books, reports, etc. Anyone may view or contribute.
http://cnx.org/content/

Consortium-based Portal for Online Objects in Learning (POOL) formed to develop an infrastructure for learning object repositories. It addresses the issues of building the architecture and makes its tools available for download. http://ilearn.senecac.on.ca/lop/

Internet Archive’s library of Open Educational Resources and university lectures. - http://www.archive.org/details/education

Maricopa Learning Exchange (MLX). Maricopa Community Colleges' (AZ) "electronic warehouse of ideas, examples and resources" (more than 500) presented as "packages" of reusable information.

MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

National Digital Learning Repository
http://www.ndlr.ie/
The NDLR is a HEA funded pilot project between all Irish Universities, Institutes of Technology and their affiliated colleges. The NDLR is an online resource bank to support collaboration and sharing of teaching and learning resources within the Irish Third Level Education sector.

OER Commons is a teaching and learning network, from K-12 lesson plans to college courseware, from algebra to zoology, open to everyone to use and add to.
http://www.oercommons.org

Open-Of-Course is a multilingual portal for free online courses and tutorials. (Biult in Moodle)
http://www.open-of-course.org/

The OpenLearn website gives free access to course materials from The Open University. The LearningSpace is open to learners anywhere in the world.
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

Podcasts

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/courses.php

SMETE Digital Library. RLOs assembled by the Society for Mathematics, Engineering and Technical Education for students studying in those fields.

Stngyscholar Learn for free on the Web
http://stingyscholar.blogspot.com/

Tufts University OpenCourseWare
Educational content, tools, and infrastructure to educators, students, and self-learners.
http://ocw.tufts.edu/TuftsOER

Wisc-Online. http://www.wisc-online.com/Collection of open-access RLO's produced by higher education institutions in Wisconsin, plus guidelines for creation and use in instruction.

Tools for sharing
There are tools that already exist for sharing your materials. These include:

* Open SLedware an initiative of SL educators to make course content accessible to all
* List of 2.0 Apps
* TeacherTube (think YouTube for teachers)
* Zoho show
* Common Content: a open catalog of Creative Commons licensed content
* Poll Daddy

Labels: e-learning, elearning tools, free elearning, reusable learning objects, rlos

posted by Helen Whitehead 5:38 PM

(0) comments

Monday, 3 December 2007

Advent (of technology) calendar

This December at ELKS (the community of expertise which I manage for the UN's Global Alliance for ICT in Development initiative) we've adapted a December tradition to produce an "Advent of technology" Calendar - with a resource, tool or tip about e-learning for every day of December.
There are 30 days to fill - so we need your contributions! Tell us what tool (including software, hardware or gadgets), or what resource (such as website), or what conference, journal, model of best practice, or even person has greatly impacted on your practice as a teacher using technology. What's been the greatest boon? What changed your life? Well - at least what changed your teaching practice, at least a little!

Email helen.whitehead AT le.ac.uk with your suggestions to add to our calendar, the sooner the better. If you can accompany it with a photo related to your location (as square as possible), that would be even better. You'll see December 2^nd is a view up the Attenborough Tower at the University of Leicester, where the Beyond Distance Research Alliance (where ELKS is based) has its offices.

There's also a discussion - please let us know what your tool, resource etc. means to you.

To find the Advent Calendar go to ELKS and click on Showcase in the left hand menu. Click on the Advent of technology Calendar then double-click on today's picture and "view details" to see the resource behind it. You don't have to login to see the calendar.
DIRECT LINK to calendar
If you have an interest in the role of e-learning in development, and would like to become a member of ELKS, just get in touch with me and I'll send you a password. helen.whitehead AT le.ac.uk
Labels: calendar, e-learning, elearning, elearning tools, ELKS, learning futures, online communities, UN, UN-GAID, universities

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:39 AM

(0) comments

Monday, 12 November 2007

Links for week commencing 12th November

Real-world e-learning software

I asked some practitioners what e-learning tools the staff in their institutions actually found useful. Here are some of their answers:

Course Genie
This is a product from Wimba (who have a site of good products) which allows staff to generate web pages from Word documents. It runs from within Microsoft Word as an add-on, so it's possible for many of the formatting features of Word to be used. Various resources can be linked to the central web file created automatically by Word so learners can read materials, view presentations, search the internet or take quizzes as part of one learning "package".

MonkeyJam
Freeware animation software: designed to let you capture images from a webcam, camcorder, or scanner and assemble them as separate frames of an animation. It's also possible to import other images and sound files. Will export as an .avi file.

Content Generator.net
Flash-based e-Learning quizzes, games and applications (more use with school-level than FE or HE)
Content generator
Multiple Choice quiz generator
Match-up quiz generator
Penalty Shootout generator
Walk the Plank generator
Interactive diagram generator
Free basic level of multiple-choice generator, with licenses for more complex games (e.g., football shootouts) from £25-300 depending on individual or institutional licence.

Toufee
Flash moviemaker. Non technical users can quickly create impressive multimedia items in Flash, including movies, banners, presentations, slideshows, and e-cards. Free Trial for 30 days then $5 per month.
Labels: e-learning tools, elearning tools, games, learning games, links, websites

posted by Helen Whitehead 9:27 AM

(0) comments