Brain of the Blogger

The following article is excellent for a number of reasons. First, it introduces the novice to the effect that blogs have had on the Internet and then it explains their positive effects on bloggers themselves. As instructors I think we could take this knowledge and apply it to teaching.
During the past five years, blogging has exploded from virtual non-existence into an important and influential sociocultural force. Recent survey data indicate that there are now nearly 10 million bloggers, 90% of whom are between the ages of 13 and 29 years old. This incredible upsurge in activity has caused us to wonder: What effect is all this blogging having on the brains of bloggers?

1. Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking.
2. Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking.

Exemplary Course Project

If you're just getting started with WebCT or you're a withered old veteran of the online technology world, WebCT Exemplary Course Project will have some things to interest you.

Ten Reasons Why Blogging is Good For Your Career

And here are three:
1.You have to get noticed to get promoted.

2.You have to get noticed to get hired.

3.It really impresses people when you say “Oh, I’ve written about that, just google for XXX and I’m on the top page” or “Oh, just google my name.”

You can find the rest at 'It’s Not Dangerous.'

Pieces of Technology Knowledge

Sometimes just a few pieces of knowledge can revolutionize your understanding of a technology. An automobile would just sit there if you didn't know about the gas pedal and if you weren't familiar with the concept of an 'On Switch' you'd probably be lost in the modern world. And software is just like that: Learn to cut and paste text and your computer world is revolutionized. Learn to create a folder, name it and put it on your desk top and your computer becomes a friendlier beast. So it is with WebCT. If you're willing to learn a little something new every now and then you can take your online course to more robust heights. There are Tips and Tricks for WebCT sites available all over the Internet. Just do a Google search.

"You can do it Johnny!"

Philosophers like to look for the ideas behind the ideas and then look behind those ideas. Behind every idea is another idea-holding it up, rooting it on, providing support. ("You can do it Johnny!") Some people think that by examining these relations we might get to the root of some greater understanding of our beliefs.

The article 'Neutrality in Education And Derrida's Call for "Double Duty" relies upon this notion for it's analysis of current (1996) trends in Education.
The educational world can be seen as such:
1.) There is no neutrality in education.
2.) Teaching is not an indifferent exercise.
3.) Schools and curriculum are not politically neutral.

So, entered into this non-neutral educational universe are the positivists, clinging to rigid binary oppositional ideas, and
Derrida's team, basking in the glow of multiple voices. This dichotomous theme is pretty well established as an important one currently at work in our western world:
"Let's simplify things!"
"No, lets put lots of ideas on the fire, that'll work!"

In 'Neutrality in Education And Derrida's Call for "Double Duty"' Egéa-Kuehne calls out with a duty in mind, a response to neutrality: Complex and controversal elements need to be left in curriculla, we need to learn to re-consider, re-evaluate and re-interpret our positions in education.
With the end goal in mind being:

Isn't it to engage our students in a quest for knowledge which should take them way beyond the boundaries of their immediate socio-cultural context in space and in time? Isn't it to encourage them to take risks in learning and discovering the other, the unknown, while building up a greater sense of responsibility toward self-directed learning, and therefore truly unique identity building?

Pretty heady stuff. Check it out if you want to take your students beyond the boundaries of their immediate socio-cultural context in space and in time.

Landmark Study Yields First-Ever Data on Distance Education in American Elementary and Secondary Schools

Landmark Study Yields First-Ever Data on Distance Education in American Elementary and Secondary Schools
Eighty percent of public school districts said that offering courses not available at their schools is one of the most important reasons for having distance education, according to a new report that provides the first national data on distance learning in public K-12 schools. In addition, half cited distance learning as very important in making advanced placement or college-level courses available to all students. "Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2002–03," released today by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), showed that one-third (36 percent) of public school districts and 9 percent of public schools had students enrolled in distance education courses in 2002–03.

E Learning Business Translator

This E Learning Business Translator is fairly amusing.

Google Labs

If you haven't been keeping track of Google Labs you probably should. This group is thinking up the most amazing things on the Internet right now. And they're even moving into the academic realm. It's a dizzying technology playground they've got going there.

If you're not familiar with Google, here's a tutorial.

Miami Dade and WebCT Tutorials

Miami Dade has a bunch of excellent Flash WebCT tutorials.

A Classroom of One

I'm currently reading 'A Classroom of One' by Gene Maeroff. So, far it's been a soild overview of online and distance learning. I like the way he compares past forms of distance learning (mail, satellite, etc.) with online learning. This helps to ground online learning in a history. And from here Maeroff sets out to analyze online learning as something rooted in the past yet also new. I like this perspective and the way it helps to make sense of where we are with online teaching and where it might be taking us.

Learning Theory Development

This graphic is really brilliant. As you can see it tracks the development of learning theories and parallels their development with theories about the structures of atoms. As time goes on the complexity in each theory increases and a dynamic nature in each process is seen. This graphic was found on the University of Saskatchewan's Learning Theories in Instructional Design page.