Teach Collaborative Revision with Google Docs

Revision is a critical piece of the writing process—and of your classroom curriculum. Now, Google Docs has partnered with Weekly Reader’s Writing for Teens magazine to help you teach it in a meaningful and practical way.

The sharing features of Google Docs enable you and your students to decide exactly who can access and edit documents. You’ll find that Google Docs helps promote group work and peer editing skills, and that it helps to fulfill the stated goal of The National Council of Teachers of English, which espouses writing as a process and encourages multiple revisions and peer editing.

Get the rest of the story including a lesson plan and lots of great resources at:
http://www.google.com/educators/weeklyreader.html

Free online classroom resources

Thank you Susie for this resource!

A very user friendly resource for educators and a little something for everyone! =;->  

Free Web Tools Blog
http://freewebtools.wordpress.com/

Here is a sampling under the Creativity Tools section.
Toondoo- free comic strips and comic books creation tool.
Animoto-free music video creation site for 30 second spots. Then it costs $3.00/video for longer videos/
Flickr-free photo sharing website and online community platform.
Picnik.com-free photo editing online and integrates with Flickr.

Flat Classroom Wiki Project

Thank you Bethany for sharing this cool wiki project 
http://flatclassroomproject2006.wikispaces.com/  
:)
~julz

On-demand webinar: Building better Moodle rooms

Building better Moodle rooms: Online strategies and best practices
Sponsored by: Moodlerooms

Original broadcast date: December 4, 2007
Expiration date: March 3, 2008
Audience link:

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=94646&s=1&k=9B7400E6E6534B9DD4FC267D25E2CF8E&partn
erref=opn24

This event is now available on demand. The archived webinar will be
available for viewing through the expiration date listed above.

To view this Webcast you will need to have Real Player or Windows Media
Player. You may download either of these at
http://webcast.on24.com/clients/help/.

2007 VSS Resources now available

The North American Council for Online Learning is pleased to announce that the 2007 VSS Resources page is now available online at http://www.virtualschoolsymposium.org/resources.php. On this page, you will find links to webcasts, vodcasts, articles, PowerPoint presentations, photos, etc. from many of the presentations offered at last month's Virtual School Symposium.

Don't forget to mark your calendar for next year's VSS: 2008 Virtual School Symposium, October 26-28, 2008 in Phoenix, AZ. It is sure to be even more exciting and innovative than ever!

Video sites make science more accessible

Inspired by YouTube's success, several new science video web sites have sprung up online
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

Haim Weizman is a chemist by trade and an internet movie maker on the side. In his first video, a telegenic narrator in a lab coat swirls a flask as electronic music plays in the background. Created by four science and film students at the University of California, San Diego, the video shows a typical recrystallization experiment straight out of Chemistry 101.

The six-minute epic, complete with bloopers, got 1,205 views on Google Inc.’s YouTube, but the number increased fourfold when the video was posted to SciVee, one of a number of online video-sharing startups designed to let scientists broadcast themselves toiling in the laboratory or delivering lectures.

Read the rest of the story at http://snipurl.com/1uuxi
:)
~julz

MIT adapts free online courses for high schools

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a new web site
with free online resources that aim to improve science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction at the high school level.
Check out the article at http://snipurl.com/1ukkz

:)
~julz

2 Things 2 Know 2day

ONE – National Distance Learning Week http://ndlw.org starts 2day and NMSU College of Extended Learning is working hard to do its part http://nmsu.pbwiki.com

TWO – The XO Laptop, Give 1 Get 1 started 2day http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php I just bought mine; my son, Jon and I, will be having fun with these over Christmas and two children somewhere in the world will have the opportunity to access knowledge and tools in a way they’ve never had before. Here’s a great vodcast featuring the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) team:

It’s a FABULOUS day! ;) ~julz

National Distance Learning week Nov. 12-16

The NMSU Office of Distance Education and the RETA Project within the College of Extended Learning (CEL) will host webinars, blogs, chats, an online Moodle open house and other events in honor of the 2007 National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) Nov. 12 -16, http://ndlw.org

The NDLW Webinars http://www.ndlw.org/learners.html will be hosted throughout the week from 9 to 10 a.m. and from noon to 1 p.m. in Milton Hall, Room 185, La Academia.

CEL and RETA offerings are viewable BUT still under construction at:
http://nmsu.pbwiki.com/

Later in the day (today is Friday, November 9, 2007), we will be extending the invitation to our eLearning friends (RETAzens, OTLOzens, eTeachers, OTLCers, etc.) to join us in a variety of ways. Contributors and attendees will be entered into a drawing at the end of the week.

Let's help change the world, here's one way...

You are receiving this update because I requested a reminder from One Laptop per Child about the limited-time "Give One Get One" program. Starting Monday, November 12 at 6:00am EST, you will be able to donate one XO laptop to a child in the developing world and also receive a laptop for the child in your life, by visiting www.laptopgiving.org or calling toll-free 1-877-70-LAPTOP.

"Give One Get One" is the only time they are making the revolutionary XO laptop available to the public. For a donation of just $399 ($200 of which is tax-deductable), you will be giving the gift of education. Additionally, T-Mobile is offering donors one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States, which can be used from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including the XO laptop.

I will send another update when the program begins on November 12. I hope you'll join the mission to bring education and connection to children in even the most remote regions of the globe.

I'm thinking of doing this myself and sharing a laptop with my teen. The free T-Mobile HotSpot and portable, somewhat indestructible mobile device is
totally worth it.

Let's spread the word!
:)
~julz

Jamming w/ Distance Learning

During the week of November 12-16, 2007, NMSU College of Extended Learning will be hosting a variety of activities and resources. This is our blog for gathering the voices of distance learning...