This is Wiredinstructor's Workspace... This blog is a catch all sandbox for ideas tossed in and out

I'm thinking about newsletters. The IMSA project is getting ready to jump in and I need to be on the learning curve. Here's a few sites of interest. Many deal with SEO.... search engine optimization.

Web Traffic Generation And Monetization Opportunities For Small Online Independent Publishers

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/03/02/web_traffic_generation_and_monetization.htm

Jim Boykin's Blog: http://www.jimboykin.com/

http://pingomatic.com

Here's a list of newsletters I currently subcribe to and scan.

 

Questions:  Do you current pay for a newsletter?  If so, which one? If not, is there anything that would prompt you to do so?

 

http://www.uliveandlearn.com/innovate/   Innovate

 

http://www.edutopia.org/products/edutopianews.php Edutopia

 

http://www.smartbrief.com/ascd/index.jsp  ASCD Smart Briefs

 

http://www.elearningguild.com/pbuild/linkbuilder.cfm?selection=fol.4 E-Learning Insider

 

http://www.unc.edu/cit/infobits/index.html  CIT Infobits

 

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/news/  UW-Stout InfoBytes

 

http://www.eschoolnews.com/emailprofile/   E-school News

 

http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp  Constant Contact Email News Letter Software

 

http://surfaquarium.com/NEWSLETTER/index.htm  Innovative Teaching

 

Teaching Search Skills with Free Flash Based Games I presented this topic at this years Illinois Online Conference with my IMSA Colleague Dan Balzer: A description of our synchronous webinar can be viewed at: http://home.learningtimes.net/ioc2006?go=1123268

 

I'll post a link to the full archive when I can find it.

 

Notes: This was a strong prestentation because we provided many opportunities for interaction.  Polls, open mic, q&A  all worked well. Also, we had hands on activities for learners... they had the opportunity to use our flash based learning games as they thought about search skills.   One particularly useful and easy to manage tactic was to ask folks to drop a check mark on our list of 9 steps for creating a query. This allowed me to respond to the questions in real time and quite quickly.

 

I've learned a great deal about synchronous teaching using Eluminate over the past year. We've made presentations For the ISLMA Confernce, NACOL Webinar Series, ICE Conference, Illinois Online Conference, and several others. The more tI do this the more it feels like fully tech integrated classroom teaching.

http://www.palinet.org/rss/tech-conversations/default.htm

 

PALINET's Technology Conversations podcast series features interviews with leaders in library technology. Lasting approximately 20 minutes and designed for portable listening devices or the desktop computer, each program is a brief take on a different hot tech topic. These sessions are also distributed via RSS.

http://21cif.imsa.edu/resources/lapackage/

 

Grab it while it lasts....

 

I've build a lot of Rollyo Search Rolls. Seems an ideal way for educators to create a 'closed' set of resources for their students without spoon feeding them each site. You can re-inforce search skills with student safe, pre-selected sites.

 

Here are the searchrolls developed for my 21st Century Information Fluency Project:

 

Website Evaluation: http://rollyo.com/21cif/website_evaluation/

 

The Digital Information Fluency Investigator: http://rollyo.com/21cif/dif_investigator/

 

Library Media Advocacy  http://rollyo.com/21cif/library_media_advocacy/

 

Copyright and Fair Use: http://rollyo.com/21cif/copyright_fair_use/

 

Search the 21st Century Information Fluency Project: http://rollyo.com/21cif/21cif_site_search/

 

 

Here's a good search engine overview of Rollyo: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060203-000505

 

I want to explore a new tool mentioned by Searchenginewatch: http://www.pubsub.com/

 

I'll have to play with it!

http://searchforvideo.com/

 

http://www.podscope.com/  (audio / video search

 

Over view articel from Search Engine Watch: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060128-004723

 

Say it with pictures.... better yet video

 

We're all capable of becoming broadcasters for very little investment.  With over a billion internet users out there, the democratic force of pod & vod casting is just starting to be realized. This is part of Kurzweil's singularity... we are all broadcasters.... but do we have anything to say that is worth listening to?

 

Free streaming music from the Vault:

 

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/static.aspx?Type=Audio/Radio.htm&LeftNav=Audio/RadioNav.htm

 

I've been listening to music for tech literate survivors of the 60's.  These are live recordings from SF concerts. An eclectic mix of golden oldies.... sweet.

 

 

Innovation Everywhere—How the Acceleration of “GNR” (genetics, nanotechnology, robotics) Will Create a Flat and Equitable World

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/327/

 

When Humans Transcend Biology

http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail712.html

 

The Singularity is Here

http://www.thex.com/podcast/2005/10/24/ray-kurzweil-interview-podcast/

 

Ray Kurzweil on Future Tech

http://odeo.com/audio/575296/view

 

Back in 1999 I was hired by ISTE to be a project writer. I worked for a week at ASU creating tech integrated teaching units for the Connecting Curriculum book published by ISTE.

 

In so many ways this experience was a turning point for me. I was working with brillian people. I met future mentors and got a glimpse of how I might change my life.  I was given a pre-publication copy of Ray Kurzweil's Age of Spiritual Machines. I'd been influenced by a keynote speech given by Kurzweil at a convention I'd attended in Dallas back in 1996.  The man has vision and ideas that resonate with me. As a direct result of reading the book I decided that I had to break out of teaching in a conservative, myopic, backward Nevada school district and reach out to the greater online world.

 

Withing weeks of returning from ASU I'd applied to Cal State Haywards online teaching and learning master's program. That was back in 2000. Now as of February 2006 I make my living and my intellectual life on the web as an online instructor, course designer, and freelance writer.

 

Lots of changes... thanks Ray! I'm working hard to be ready to recognize the changes when they arrive.  When, oh when, will the singularity occur? I'm getting ready right now. 

 

http://www.brucejudson.com/

    

Interesting example of the new publishing... ad supported , otherwise completely free book on developing a small business.

 

Worth reading.

 

What can I create that folks will need?

 

Help my parents:  a guide for boomer's helping their folks with the medicare tangle?

 

Food for thought: Dumbest moments in business: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/101dumbest/

 

I'm chasing an idea... how can I use an RSS reader to keep track of my class blogs? And how can I teach my class to do the same? At first blush it seems simple... add the RSS feed from a Mindsay Blog to an RSS reader and bingo...

What seems simple becomes complex when I try it. At the moment I'm fiddling with Google's reader. I was suprised at how quickly I could find my wiredinstructor blog using google's tool. Mindsay popped right up. (It's ironic that the Blogger.com account I've had for years didn't show up.) I subscribed to my Mindsay blog as a test. The system crunched for awhile & Now I'm told there is no content. So, I'm posting this to see if the reader will pick it up because it's fresh.

Other rss readers... there are many, and each has it's own quirks. I've got a bloglines account so, I'll fiddle there a bit, but I'm drawn to the Google tool because I've set up a desktop office using their stuff. I'm hooked on keyword searching my gmail account and have been dumping content from all my addresses into gmail for months. I've got years of Eudora mail I need to upload to gmail as well.. another background task...

Once I get the google reader working, I'll sort through the list offered on the Mindsay page, and a few others too. Like all simple ideas, untangling it all and getting test cases working is step one. I feel I need to know it to teach it. I wonder if I should just toss the idea to the class and let them hack out their own solutions. The concept appeals... sweet constructivism, but the reality is folks are paying big tuition and have a right to a guide... I always try to walk down the center... offer a guided path, and suggest folks forage around on their own too. (My version of differentiated instruction.)

Next, I'll have to answer how I can teach this idea online without hopelessly tangling the newbies or boring the veterans. My inclination is to find the simplest system, do a tutorial, and suggest a path. On the flip side, I'll endorse the idea that anyone can try to get the same task done with any tool that intriques them.

Let's see if this new open entry is snagged by Google's reader?

Any of you that stumble here, please suggest the best tech for the task?

dennis@Tahoe

Here's a place to think about thinking. I'm thinking that this will be a useful tool for processing my thoughts about the new elearning class. I also want to test this in the traits course. The lack of a journal in D2L is pushing me in this direction.  The bonus may be the introduction of  blogs as a writer's tool that teachers will accept if they have some experience with the technology.

How can I use this tool to see into my students experiences?
Have them set up a Mindsay Blog & invite me to the space?
Use the space to monitor their work on a week to week basis?
Just suggest that each sets up their own space as a reference tool during the course?

Issues: privacy vs publicity?
Tech overload? Mastering D2L, course navigation, discussion software etc.