Technology in Education

Webinars - Attend a Presentation Without Leaving Your Office

2011-02-11T12:24:00.001-07:00

Hmmm, I see a pattern here. I wrote a blog post last month about various virtual museum tours you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Now I'm writing a post about attending seminars and presentations from the comfort of your own office. People are going to think I don't want to spend any time with people in-person! Not so, but there is a time and place for taking advantage of online

2010 Edublog Awards

2011-01-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I might be a little late but I recently stumbled across the 2010 Edublog awards and was reminded of how inspiring it can be to browse the winning- and nominated sites. If you are not familiar with Edublogs or the annual Edublog awards, it might be something you'd like to dip into.Celebrating Blogging and Social Media in Education. I have to agree with these statements I found on their site:

Browsing your Browser

2011-01-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

As we have all heard the saying that they eyes are the window to the soul, one could equally say the choice of web browser that you utilize is the window into cyberspace. From our launch pad we can access the internet for a large integral part of our everyday lives encompassing everything and anything such as: communication, research, shopping and entertainment. As such it would be fair

Virtual Museums - An Educational Experience From the Comfort of Your Pyjamas!

2011-01-14T16:16:00.008-07:00

The field trip to the museum: playtime for the students, Advil-time for the teacher! Ok I’m being a little melodramatic. Visiting a museum is an awesome experience and there is no replacement for being there in person. But it’s a major excursion to organize and supervise. Plus your destinations are limited. A trip to the Lourve or the Smithsonian is not usually in the budget.Enter high speed

Welcome Back!

2011-01-12T08:30:00.003-07:00

The Winter term is underway and we'd like to welcome everyone back to campus. This term promises to be a very exciting one for Tech PD as we, along with DTE and IRS are getting ready for some organizational changes as well as a physical move. Expect more details soon!As a reminder, one of the first changes to our services happened last fall when we started referring training and support for

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-21T20:10:00.003-07:00

The holidays are almost upon us and all of us in Tech PD would like to thank you for reading our blog and posting your comments throughout the year. We hope you'll come back in the new year to find out about the exciting changes that are happening with our unit. We wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday. This year we are replacing our usual JibJab video with this favorite YouTube video of

Finding Free Images online: Part 2

2010-12-10T15:23:00.001-07:00

Many researchers use interviews as a source of data collection. Whether it be one-on-one interviews or focus groups, it is common to record the session for review at a later time. Here in the Faculty of Education, many of you store these recordings on your work computer or on your personal space: a smart thing to do as these are backed up on a regular basis. If anything

Animoto - Slideshows 2.0

2010-01-22T13:19:00.007-07:00

The future of computer programs is web applications. Look at Google Documents for example. You can create MS Office-like documents online on any computer in the world, all for free. Not to mention the ease of editing and sharing these documents.I personally feel that this is a very exciting prospect for education. As a teacher I will no longer have to worry about purchasing software for basic

A handy polling tool

2010-01-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

A handy tool I’ve been using a lot lately is Doodle. It’s a funny name for a polling service but that is what it is; an online tool for quickly setting up and disseminating a poll. And it is so easy to use.Doodle takes the pain out of organizing a meeting with a group of people. Instead of a series of emails going back and forth, I can set up a poll and have Doodle send an email to the email

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-08T10:40:00.003-07:00

We welcome everyone to a new term and a brand new year! Hopefully your holiday was a relaxing and enjoyable one. We didn't get to post our season's greeting message before the break so I'm doing it now. I know Santa has finished with the list but I couldn't resist starting the term with a little snowball fight!Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Collaborating

2009-12-04T10:32:00.005-07:00

We hear a lot in online learning about working in teams and collaborating on projects. These collaborations may require the development of one or more documents. But what happens when the ‘team’ can’t get together? Collaborating on documents by email is one option, but can get confusing very quickly with multiple versions of the same document being passed around. Who DOES have the latest

Better Ways to Share Lists of Websites

2009-11-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

Have you ever considered the method you use to share important websites with your students? My experience informs me that the majority of instructors create a document that lists the various websites and their website address (aka URLs). This document is either given to the students as a printed handout or available as a download online, usually from within eClass (WebCT).I think it is important

Attend the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference without leaving the Education building

2009-10-29T17:06:00.005-06:00

Every year at this time, a large number of faculty and staff from across the university usually attend the annual EDUCAUSE conference. This conference provides information about current developments and networking opportunities for those who are interested in the use of information technologies in higher education. This year it is being held in Denver, Colorado from November 3-6. Given the

Communication and Collaboration: Getting it Together

2009-10-23T14:14:00.003-06:00

Collaborative projects, whether they are student assignments, research, or work projects, present a number of challenges, not the least of which are: communicating and working on shared documents. While Internet applications provide many options: email, wikis, blogs, and others, they are not always simple to set up and use. If you are anything like me, in addition to your campus accounts,

A Tool For Your Students to Share Digital Resources

2009-10-16T12:59:00.003-06:00

In only one week I had the same question posed to me by four different instructors: "How can I set up something so that my students can share their _______ (lesson plans/assignments/documents/etc..)? It is a question that has come up often in the past in my time in Tech PD as well. Not to mention the fact that when I was a student I felt a strong need for this.Of course there is no one simple

Have you Skyped anyone yet?

2009-09-29T13:59:00.016-06:00

The Skype Group was co-founded by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis in 2003. So what is Skype? Well in its most simple terms, Skype is a video telephone software that works over the Internet (for free) instead of through a telephone line or cell phone tower. The following YouTube video explains:Skype has been in my peripheral vision for some time. But, like most people

Drop-in Help Sessions for eClass (formerly WebCT)

2009-09-04T09:28:00.008-06:00

Tech PD is hosting another round of help sessions for eClass (formerly WebCT) for Faculty of Education instructors. Drop in to get help with a problem or an answer to a questions you have about eClass. Or, come and work on your eClass site with a Tech PD facilitator close by to provide assistance as needed.You are welcome to :Bring the files you want to upload into your course.Ask about ways to

Preparing for H1N1

2009-08-28T17:04:00.005-06:00

Welcome to the beginning of the Fall term. This year, along with the anticipation of a new term comes some concern about the risk of an outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus on campus. The University of Alberta's Risk Management Services is maintaining a website with information for staff and students about the virus and links to sources of more detail. It is recommended that if anyone has flu

Let Me Introduce Myself

2009-08-24T08:43:00.010-06:00

Hello everyone. As you get settled into the new academic year, I thought this might be a good time for introductions and to take this opportunity to tell you little about myself. As you may know, Tracy is away this year on maternity leave. While she is gone, Amy will be filling her spot, which means I will be filling Amy's spot. I am very excited to be back in the Faculty of Education and at

Taste of Technology

2009-08-10T14:42:00.002-06:00

Now that I've had my fill of the delicacies of A Taste of Edmonton, I'm looking forward to having my appetite for educational technology satisfied at the upcoming Taste of Technology. Presented by University Teaching Services (UTS) and the Online Program Support Group (OPSG), the U of A's Taste of Technology is a chance to sample some of the many ways instructors on campus are engaging their

Tracy's Farewell

2009-08-04T11:12:00.007-06:00

Well fellow bloggers the time has come for me to bid you farewell!As many of you know I am pregnant and expecting twins this fall. Although this is certainly wonderful news, it will unfortunately result in me taking a temporary hideous from the Tech PD blog as I expect to be on leave for approximately 15 months. You can rest assured however that you will be in very good hands while I am gone!I am

Email: Friend or Foe?

2009-07-24T09:58:00.000-06:00

I remember when I was first introduced to this new thing called e-mail. Back in 1997 it still had the "-" in it; but eventually e-mail became so integral it was simplified to one word: email.I remember the promise of email. It was going to make communication so much easier and make our work more efficient. Instead of having to phone people, I could simply write them a message. It would be

VoiceThread to Develop Community Online

2009-07-10T11:57:00.007-06:00

I was recently digging around some of my delicious bookmarks and came across a few resources on a popular educational tool called VoiceThread. If you find the discussion tool in eClass limiting, you might want to explore VoiceThread as an alternative. According to the VoiceThread website:A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows

Your Digital Reputation Is Like A Tattoo

2009-07-03T09:30:00.002-06:00

One of the sessions that I found very interesting at the Canadian e-Learning Conference in mid-June was on the Digital Tattoo project at UBC. According to this project a digital tattoo is analogous to your digital reputation. I personally find the concept of a tattoo to be an excellent analogy, so let’s have a look. A real tattoo iso an expression of yourselfo prone to misinterpretation

Myth of the Net Gen?

2009-06-26T14:49:00.009-06:00

Last week I attended the Canadian E-Learning Conference in Vancouver which has gotten me to reconsider the way I think about the relationship between technology, learning preferences, and generational differences. The argument that millennial students, digital natives, or the Net Generation learn differently and therefore have different needs and expectations in relation to technology integration

Hardisty School welcomes Faculty of Education

2009-06-19T15:28:00.005-06:00

A few years ago, the staff at Hardisty Junior High School began a process that has led to an increase in technology in the school and of technology integration into the teaching and learning processes. They recently invited the Faculty of Education to tour their facilities and to talk to teachers and students about the integration of technology into their classes. Eight members of the faculty

Pocket Video Cameras in the Classroom

2009-06-09T15:53:00.009-06:00

There are a few instructors in our faculty who do video projects with their students and this usually involves using a digital camcorder. It can be a tedious process: the students must purchase a tape or disc to use with the camera, they must shoot the footage, they must plug the camera into a computer and use software to capture and convert the footage (which takes as long as the footage shot),

International Gateway for Gifted Youth - U Alberta 09

2009-06-05T13:20:00.004-06:00

The University of Alberta is hosting IGGY U Alberta 09, taking place August 9 - 22. This is a residential face-to-face program organized by the International Gateway for Gifted Youth from the University of Warwick in the UK. IGGY U Alberta 09 is being organized here on campus by the Faculty of Education. IGGY aims to enrich and extend the learning of gifted youth in an area of interest to

Changes coming for Elluminate Live!

2009-05-28T15:00:00.001-06:00

If you are using Elluminate Live! for teaching, research or meetings, you should be aware of some upcoming changes to the U of A Elluminate service. As of June 1, 2009:Elluminate Live! will be upgraded to the latest version (9.1). This will provide us with a number of new and improved features, such as Up to 6 simultaneous video streamsText wrapping and scrolling in text boxes on whiteboardUser

Taste of Technology, proposals due June 1!

2009-05-22T10:11:00.000-06:00

The University of Alberta is hosting a new event on campus this summer! Join the University Teaching Services and the Online Program Support Group for a Taste of Technology on August 13th of 2009 from 11am – 3pm at the Telus Centre. The goal is to promote and exhibit excellence and innovation in teaching with technology at the University of Alberta. Following a keynote address, displays and

START Grant Deadline May 15

2009-05-12T08:25:00.000-06:00

The application deadline for the Support for Technology Advancement in Research on Teaching (START) grant is fast approaching. Applications must be received in the Dean’s Office by 4:00 p.m. on May 15th. The Support for Technology Advancement in Research on Teaching (START) grant is just one way the Faculty of Education supports technology related research. The grant was founded in 2007 and was

Feedback on Smartboard use from Practicing Teachers

2009-05-08T12:20:00.001-06:00

On April 23 the U of A Faculty of Education hosted a discussion session on Smartboard use in K-12 schools. In attendance were 11 service teachers, who all use Smartboards in varying degrees, in addition to 5 faulty members and 4 of us from DTE/Tech PD.Please read my post on April 24 "Meeting on Smartboard with from Practicing Teachers" where I introduce why we held the session and what our

Upcoming PD opportunity

2009-04-30T16:30:00.005-06:00

Mark your calendars. Over the weekend of May 22-24, there is an international online conference that you won't want to miss.Webheads in Action http://webheads.info and http://webheadsinaction.org, a world-wide multi-cultural online community of ESL/EFL educators and other professionals, is hosting a unique international conference held entirely online. Participation is free and open to all who

Meeting on Smartboard use with Practicing Teachers

2009-04-24T12:09:00.006-06:00

Smartboards, or interactive whiteboards, are rapidly increasing in installation and use in the K-12 school system. Here in Tech PD we have been getting an increasing amount of requests for PD from instructors related to Smartboards, as well as inquiries as to how many (if at all) of these interactive whiteboards should be purchased in the faculty. So inevitably the question arose, "how are

What’s on the Horizon?

2009-04-17T09:57:00.005-06:00

Here is a ‘Must Read’ for just about everyone. For the past six years the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Leaning Initiative have collaborated to produce the Horizon Report. Each year the report identifies two technologies or practices that are likely to become mainstream in educational institutions within each of three horizons – within one year, within 2 to 3 years and within 4 to 5

Smart Board PD and Opportunity to Connect with Schools

2009-04-08T15:27:00.012-06:00

Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools and the Educational Technology Council of the Alberta Teacher Association (ETCATA) is sponsoring a Smart Tech Institute Day on April 18. The focus is on transforming teaching by moving towards acquiring 21st Century learning technology skills. Participants will be able to select 2 half day sessions. Topics include: SmartBoard Click Along (Window/Mac),

Free Online PD

2009-04-06T12:30:00.000-06:00

I just came across a new project that sounds very promising. Edublogs is now offering free live web events that are open for anyone to join. Topics covered will include not just using blogs in education but many other web technologies as well.Sue Waters has a blog entry providing details on this new feature with links to the schedule. From here you can sign up to get an email notification of

NetSmartz.org - a great resource for teaching students online skills

2009-03-30T10:32:00.004-06:00

If you read an earlier post of mine, "Facebook and Social Networking Skills", you'll know that it is my opinion that instructors should take steps so that they can mentor their students regarding online communication skills. For my reasoning in this I suggest you read that previous post. In that post I suggest that instructors become active to some degree in social networking sites so that they

Facebook and Social Networking Skills

2009-03-26T13:19:00.000-06:00

I have a very distinctive memory of my high school graduation banquet. OK, well I actually have several distinctive memories from that night, but only one that applies to this blog post! I remember that the grad committee had put together a slide show of all the graduates and preceding each grad photo came 2 or 3 childhood pictures. This was a surprise to most of us as the committee had

Open LMS Forum Wed & Thurs this week!

2009-03-22T09:18:00.019-06:00

If you are an instructor, student, or staff member who is interested in Learning Management Systems (LMSs) you should now that there is are 2 LMS forums taking place on Wednesday and Thursday of this week! As many of you may already know, a committee has been struck to formulate a long-term academic vision for the use of learning management systems (LMSs) and related technologies at the

Lynn loves online learning

2009-03-16T12:30:00.004-06:00

Last term, I was privileged to work with Dr. Lynn McQuarrie from the department of Educational Psychology as she made the move to teaching online. Like many instructors, Lynn had had no experience with online learning or teaching. In addition, she had never used eClass to supplement a face-to-face class. Despite this she accepted the task of putting her EDPY 556 Special Education course

ePortfolios - Implementing a Pilot Project

2009-03-09T14:56:00.000-06:00

Early in 2008 instructors in Secondary Education approached Tech PD with interest in using ePortfolios in their courses. We were then faced with the exciting but arduous task of getting from:A (interest in a new initiative)toE (choosing a tool to use for a pilot program)toJ (implementing a fully-tested tool)toP (developing and implementing a plan for supporting the students)toV (gathering

Digital Storytelling ‘a lot of fun’ in Elementary Language Arts

2009-03-06T17:07:00.004-07:00

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