Sep 22, 2011

YouTube Launches New Site for Teachers



There are thousands of inspirational and educational videos on YouTube right now. Many are perfect for your classroom. Knowing this, YouTube has created a new site that curates these videos and organizes them into an easier-to-find system that’s perfect for teachers.
YouTube Teachers is a brand new channel that displays helpful videos on teaching and learning about basically everything. If it’s a lesson plan or teaching tool, it’s probably on YouTube Teachers. Below you’ll see a few of our favorite videos that were surfaced by browsing the new YouTube Teacher site.


The source :

How Reading Online Improves Learning - Webinar



Web-based learning provides the individualized instruction to meet each child's learning progress. In this Webinar, you will learn how adaptive online reading Instruction improves comprehension scores in grades 3-5. You'll hear from the program developer and an educator whose students use these materials to understand what they read and improve their scores.

Presenter:
Jim Ferranti, Program Specialist, San Bernardino City Unified School District
Also Presenting:
Dr. Marta Leon, Director of Instructional Development, Headsprout
Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Time: 4:00 PM EDT
Duration: 60 minutes

Dokeos 2.1



Dokeos 2.1 is expected on September 26. This release has 2 objectives : a better integration with tablets (iPad, Android...) and the public release of some 50 bugfixes and usability issues made for our customers since Dokeos 2.0.

On the menu :
New graphical interface inspired by the Apple products
Page load quicker
Slider (images gallery sliding) on portal homepage
Audio and Video without Flash (iPad)
Modules display improved and more Presentation oriented
Improved Quiz display (more compact, compliaance with Internet Explorer 9)
Quiz answers alignment bug fixed
Better Drag & Drop in Matching question types
Chronometer and time management improved in quizzes
Position quiz media on the side / on top / no media
Learner View re-added following a lot of complaints :)
Better Copy of content from one course to the other
New Tutoring scenario in Groups
Russian language integration
Easier Contacts management in Social Network tool

1st International seminar on Higher Education Rankings and e-learning



Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (OUC) will host its first international seminar on Higher Education Rankings and e-Learning. To take place in Barcelona, Spain, on 22–23 September 2011, the seminar will feature a range of international speakers, including ICDE President, Frits Pannekoek.

OUC is member of the International Council for Open and Distance Education.
University rankings have been around for at least a couple of decades now, with some sources making a case that they go as far back as the XIV century, implicit in the recognition of the Universities of Prague, Paris and Oxford as the sole of university textbooks of the time. Be that as it may, higher education performance evaluation tools have since proliferated, both at the regional and international level.
No matter what the criticism levied against the various rankings now being produced, it is undeniable that they provide, in one form or another, useful instruments for benchmarking. 
Rankings, nonetheless, have so far not kept abreast of the profound changes in higher education brought about by the opportunities offered by the ICTs, and have not – with counted exceptions – included online education in their studies.
Today most universities have, to varying degrees, adopted the Internet as a delivery mode to complement their traditional teaching.  A few universities, such our own, actually teach exclusively online, and there are staggering growth perspectives in the online student population as internet-based education gains legitimacy and is being identified as a rigorous, viable and economically sustainable alternative to residential universities.
Are rankings likely to focus on eLearning in the near future? If so, what parameters will be employed and who will be defining those? What impact will they have on online education?  If not, are present rankings of any use to online education institutions for benchmarking purposes?
The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya invites members of the university community the world over, policy makers, analysts and publishers to join experts and exchange views as they debate these issues at the 1st International Seminar on Higher Education Rankings and e-learning to be held in Barcelona, Spain on the 22nd  and 23rd of September, 2011.

The source :
http://www.elearningeuropa.info/en/events/1st-international-seminar-higher-education-rankings-and-e-learning

More information:
http://www.uoc.edu/symposia/academic_rankings/introduccio_eng.html

DevLearn 2011 Expo Learning Stages


DevLearn refined the idea of incorporating focused learning stages into an event's expo experience and set a new standard others try to emulate. Every year, the learning stages at DevLearn are led by speakers sharing insights and ideas and packed with people who are eager to gain new information, new skills, and new knowledge. Our stages are where we showcase the best practices, hottest topics, and most innovative new ideas in learning.

Each stage offers 13 sessions spread across two days, led by leading practitioners and key industry suppliers. All stage sessions are open to full conference participants and Expo Only attendees alike.
That's 65 sessions to choose from before you even leave the Expo!

HTML5 Converter for Adobe Captivate 5.5


It is a great new tool .
The HTML5 Converter for Adobe® Captivate® 5.5 is an experimental technology that converts SWFs generated by Adobe Captivate 5.5 into HTML5 format. Reuse and extend the reach of your content to devices that do not support the Adobe Flash® runtimes.


More information and examples :



Can Rapid Authoring Meet the Needs of the Future Workplace? Webinar

The Future workplace will span five generations with learning defined by high levels of personalization, moment-of-need relevance, social collaboration and rapid technology adoption. Are your content development tools and processes ready to meet these requirements?

On September 29, learn how Baker Hughes is transforming their content development strategy from traditional rapid authoring to a new paradigm that embraces the rapid reuse of single-source content to meet the dynamic requirements of the rapidly evolving workforce.

During this interactive webinar you will learn:

- The benefits and limitations of rapid authoring tools and their role in the future workplace.
- How to develop customizable learning experiences instead of training deliverables.
- Structured knowledge capture for rapid SME-driven authoring.
- Why your content needs to be readily adaptable to future technology changes.
- How to prepare to incorporate collaboration and user-generated content from social networks into the content development process.

Asia Pacific (ASAP) Conference 2011

ASTD (American Society for Training & Development), the world's largest professional association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals, has joined forces with STADA (Singapore Training & Development Association) to bring the inaugural ASTD-STADA Asia Pacific (ASAP) Conference 2011 to Singapore. 
Thought-Leadership: experts from the West and the East to share their global insights and cutting-edge tools for human capital advancement in Asia Pacific.

Conference Tracks: unique and compelling workshops on Innovation, Blended Learning & Technology and Multi-cultural Diversity.
Exhibition: showcasing the latest local and regional new technologies and learning modules to help take learning and development in new directions.

 Network: meet and learn from the best minds in HCD to exchange key management solutions to evolving challenges.