3 Great Sites for finding courses and course content

There are three great (and new) course content/resource sites for teachers that we found in the past week: DiscoverEd from ccLearn, Courseopedia and Teachers' Domain (Teachers' Domain was found via Freetech4Teachers.com).

DiscoverEd: this is a twist on the Creative Commons database of information. Searching can give you access to the millions of resources already organized and collected by CC and it's 3rd party partners (including OER Commons, OCWC and others)

According to the website:

DiscoverEd is an experimental project from ccLearn which attempts to provide scalable search and discovery for educational resources on the web. Metadata, including the license and subject information available, are exposed in the result set. We are particularly interested in open educational resources (OER) and are collaborating with other OER projects to improve search and discovery capabilities for OER, using DiscoverEd and other available tools. Contact us if you are interested in this work.

So by searching the site you'll find tons of free to use resources on pretty much any educational topic you can think up, including lesson plans from Connexions.

Courseopedia: this site is a huge clearing house of classrooms and courses already constructed and available. Many of the entries are user-created (you can sign up and post your school's catalog, your personal offerings or other courses in a few minutes). This site isn't so great for finding free resources, but it's a great place to find where you might take an online or face to face course on any number of topics (not to mention the different levels, dates, locations and other attributes you can also search).

So if you're looking for your next destination for professional development or have courses of your own that you want to market, you might find that Courseopedia is what you're looking for. You don't have to register, but if you do you can upload your own courses, schools and programs.

Teachers' Domain: this last one was brought to my attention by Richard Byrne of Freetech4teachers.com and is definitely more geared to provide you great content for use in the classroom. TD offers 1000s of resources--many videos from PBS--for use in the classroom:

Teachers’ Domain is an online library of more than 1,000 free media resources from the best in public television. These classroom resources, featuring media from NOVA, Frontline, Design Squad, American Experience, and other public broadcasting and content partners are easy to use and correlate to state and national standards.

So if you're looking for that NOVA video, or an idea for tomorrow's lesson it's a great place to start. Registration is required if you want full use of the site, but the benefits are countless and it's free!

Search made easy

If you're looking for a course or eSchool the easiest way to find it is by searching right off of our main page.

GlobalClassroom.us's homepage has been totally redesigned lately to provide our users with an easy, simple way to connect to teachers, students and classrooms. And now you don't even have to be logged in to find the course or eSchool you're looking for.

The search is conveniently located in the top right of the home page (just like when you're logged) in. Give it a try and search for one of the great, free courses available on the GC Moodle community. (If you're interested in learning some open source software, search "gimp".)

Moodle Tutorials - great interactive video resource

If you're looking for a more interactive way to learn Moodle than our Teacher's Guide to Moodle, check out Brian Hawkins CC licensed interactive video tutorials which available on our site (among others). Below is a screen shot:

Here's a link directly to the course.

The best thing about the videos is that they are interactive, prompting viewers to click on the buttons and icons that you'd normally use to accomplish a task in Moodle. These videos are a great, enjoyable and engaging way to learn Moodle.

From the course you can also get a copy of the tutorial to restore as your own version on any Moodle site or any eSchool on GlobalClassroom (one note is that the themes do not exactly look alike, but other than that these resources are A+).

Related posts:

• Restoring courses in Moodle
• Teacher's Guide to Moodle

New in the Teacher's Lounge

Check out the Teacher's Lounge to check out a possible use of a wiki in the Moodle classroom. The example comes from one of Katri O'Neill's classrooms and it's a great, simple use of an underutilized Moodle module.

Give it a try and participate by clicking here and enrolling in the Teacher's Lounge (it's Free!).

Want a PPT with Audio right in your Moodle Classroom?

This was contributed to iMoodle.ning.com by Shawn Brandt and I think it's a great illustration of how to embed content into Moodle (note that you can do this with Youtube, Slideshare, Vimeo, Google Docs and practically any other web2.0 tool).

AuthorStream is free to use online and their Lite tool is free to download and use with PowerPoint (however the pro version is not free)

Enjoy!

Moodle Embed: PPT with Narration

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by sbrandt | Upload your own presentation

Take Charge, Get Social: Join the Teacher's Lounge

Sure we have some cool tutorials available, but I like sharing information, answering and asking questions in real time and building our community. Which is why in addition to all of the tutorials and sample courses I've created the Teacher's Lounge.

The Teacher's Lounge is like a social network, without the bells and whistles, right in GlobalClassroom. So there's no need to register somewhere else, just login, search for the Teacher's Lounge and enroll (or just visit).

It's set up as a "Social Format" Moodle course, which puts a Standard Forum for General Use as the main focus point of the course. Once you're in the course you can see the conversation, read, reply and post your own topics. Think of it as a community repository for asking and answering questions, sharing resources, finding collaborators and learning about what's going on at GlobalClassroom. It's free to join, easy to participate and fun to explore.

Come join me in the Teacher's Lounge today!

If you're feeling a bit more adventurous, check out some social networks that are solely focused on Moodle and it's many features:

• Moodle Meet
• iMoodle
• Moodlers Online

Student's and Teacher's Guide to Moodle

These are two of our most widely used tutorials at GlobalClassroom and I think that every student and teacher should have access to them in their classrooms.

• Teacher's Guide to Moodle
• Student's Guide to Moodle

There were named slightly abstract titles before, which may have kept users from finding them easily in catalogs and on the site. But now bluntly named I hope we can get some feedback on improving them and the other resources available to teachers.

If you'd like to enroll in either, simply visit the Moodle eSchool on GlobalClassroom (http://globalclassroom.us/mdl) and look for them in the tutorial catalog. Enrollment is free and easy as long as you're a registered user at GlobalClassroom.us.

If you'd like to add links to them to your course like I did right here:

Copy and paste the code linked below to a html block in your course (just use the plain text toggle button '<>') in its entirety using the following steps:

1. first, access your course and turn editing on
2. add a html block by using the block drop down
3. click the "configuration" icon on the blank html block to edit it
4. toggle to plain text by clicking the "toggle HTML source" button which looks like this <>
5. copy and then paste the code below and then click "save changes"
6. voila!

CODE: http://pastie.org/544493.txt

Related Posts:

• TinyChat
• embedding Glogster in Moodle
• embedding video in Moodle

Moodle Meets Google Wave

NOTE: this has not been implemented at GlobalClassroom and there is no time table for it's availability, if ever (but we're currently exploring it).

Google Wave made headlines a little while ago for being an amazing collaboration and

communication tool, unfortunately it's only open to a handful of developers worldwide at this point. But it's clearly caught the interest of some of the most tech savvy, including many teachers that have only glimpsed the cool factor.

Well, if you're interested, now you can get a hands on feel for a Wave/Moodle mashup which is live on the web. Scott Wilson's Blog highlights a lot of cool applications of Wave and how he got it hooked up to Moodle. You can even register at the Moodle site and check it out!

Click here to go register.

Click here once you're registered to go to the "Wookie Moodle Google"

Here's a screen shot of the awesome possibilities (shown are several widgets integrated into the Moodle weekly/topic view--looks like the widgets are embedded as HTML:

What you're seeing is several things that are all saved dynamically (so no matter who signs in the content either a. reflects who they are or b. reflects the last progress/movement of the group).

• Upper left: poetry magnets which are saved. Students may come and go, but the magnets are always where the last user left them (they don't reset!)
• Upper right: sudoku where each player has the same number set and they can work on their own, scores and user progress is saved.
• Middle: typical Moodle course resources area
• Lower left: poll
• Lower right: dynamic, saved chat box (no more chat times or getting booted from Moodle chat). This box is an ongoing chat that saves all of the conversation so students can return to it again and again and use it in the classroom whenever they're online!

We find it all pretty exciting. There are lots of possibilities to utilize Wave and we're just waiting until we too can get our hands on the code and start experimenting and improving the GlobalClassroom suite of tools.

Let us know what you think!

eSchool Catalogs: they're getting better

With the huge number of courses on the Moodle Community that is GlobalClassroom (3100+ courses!) there is a need for organization. We're happy to provide 3 levels of organization and additional sharing opportunities to any eSchools part of our community.

Each level of organization, as you progress through them, is visibly different on the main home page of your eSchool (examples: Free Course Network, Moodle Network, ASPD, Orlando Tech, and ESL).

Level 1: by default, your home page is simply provided with a link to your courses (Browse Catalog) such as is shown on the home page of Barton Graded (a sample network). By clicking the browse catalog link you'll be shown a complete list of courses (uncategorized).

Level 2: this organization can be achieved by adding course categories to your eSchool through your eSchool Dashboard (only eSchool Administrators can do this). Categories can have description text and can list any of the courses that are part of your eSchool (you can even list courses in more than one category). For example, in our Free course eSchool we currently have courses for k-8, high school and teachers. In this case, I might create three course categories to display all of our courses:

• K-8
• High School
• Professional Development

The "Browse Catalog" page instead of just a list of courses looks like this now:

Level 3: If your eSchool has over 10-20 courses and your users are having difficulty finding your course (this can be frustrating if you're selling courses off of the GlobalClassroom platform) then you might consider going one step further in organizing your courses. The Catalog feature on GlobalClassroom is relatively new and provides an innovative approach to sharing courses (more on that later)*.

Think of catalogs as an additional level of hierarchy, above categories, but still all part of your eSchool. Just as you did with categories, you can add as many catalogs as you need. For example, imagine your eSchool represents a district of schools (1 elementary, 1 middle school, 1 high school and various professional development resources). Within the elementary courses are organized by individual courses, and shared courses, same for the middle school. In high school the courses are organized by subject.

Now our course hierarchy might look something like this, where the highest level is the catalog and the next level are each category.

• Elementary
• --Classrooms
• --Shared Spaces
• Middle
• --Classrooms
• --Shared Spaces
• High School
• --Science
• --Math
• --Social Studies/History
• --English
• --Art/Music
• --Other
• Professional Development

In this case, the catalog would look more like this, affecting the front page of your eSchool, not just the browse catalog area:

As you can see, each level of organization gives your eSchool more control over how and where courses are grouped and displayed. Certainly more tweaks are on the way.

For more information about eSchools and eSchool pricing please visit our home page. If you're a current or potential eSchool Administrator and would like to access our complete eSchool management training please click this link: eSchool Administrator Training.

*Another recent innovation of our catalog system is the ability to share complete catalogs of courses (such as course strands for sale, shared courses with another eSchool or otherwise) and re-list them in another eSchool. This allows our users to import and export courses without cause to create additional iterations. So two eSchools that are selling the same course could easily collaborate and market courses together, through two entirely different branded entities. Neato!

For more information about the changes to GC in the last 12 months please read this post:

• New At Global Classroom

Quick Tip: Increasing online student engagement

Here's a quick tip from Faculty Focus on how to make your online resources more interesting and engaging to learners:

Q: Given the time-constraints that many instructors face, what relatively simple first steps do you suggest for incorporating web 2.0 tools into an online course?

Conaway: If a picture paints a thousand words, I think simply adding images to the online course is an easy first step. If a few paragraphs of text are wrapped around a graph or image, not only does it assist visual learners, but it is visually more appealing to most people. Look at any magazine or textbook. Online content developed by instructors should be the same. Information about the instructor should include images so that the students can visualize who they are communicating with. Audio and video is certainly the next step. There is a huge difference to hearing a narrated PowerPoint and just looking at the slides.

Permalink: http://www.facultyfocus.com?p=6279

Try adding pictures to your Moodle resources by using the html editor and clicking the button highlighted below:

Why schools should use open source software

by Richard Stallman

There are general reasons why all computer users should insist on free software. It gives users the freedom to control their own computers—with proprietary software, the computer does what the software owner wants it to do, not what the software user wants it to do. Free software also gives users the freedom to cooperate with each other, to lead an upright life. These reasons apply to schools as they do to everyone.

But there are special reasons that apply to schools. They are the subject of this article.

First, free software can save the schools money. Even in the richest countries, schools are short of money. Free software gives schools, like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the software, so the school system can make copies for all the computers they have. In poor countries, this can help close the digital divide.

This obvious reason, while important, is rather shallow. And proprietary software developers can eliminate this disadvantage by donating copies to the schools. (Watch out!—a school that accepts this offer may have to pay for future upgrades.) So let's look at the deeper reasons.

School should teach students ways of life that will benefit society as a whole. They should promote the use of free software just as they promote recycling. If schools teach students free software, then the students will use free software after they graduate. This will help society as a whole escape from being dominated (and gouged) by megacorporations. Those corporations offer free samples to schools for the same reason tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes: to get children addicted (1). They will not give discounts to these students once they grow up and graduate.

Free software permits students to learn how software works. When students reach their teens, some of them want to learn everything there is to know about their computer system and its software. That is the age when people who will be good programmers should learn it. To learn to write software well, students need to read a lot of code and write a lot of code. They need to read and understand real programs that people really use. They will be intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day.

Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, “The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is forbidden!” Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free software community rejects the “priesthood of technology”, which keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; we encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code and learn as much as they want to know. Schools that use free software will enable gifted programming students to advance.

The next reason for using free software in schools is on an even deeper level. We expect schools to teach students basic facts, and useful skills, but that is not their whole job. The most fundamental mission of schools is to teach people to be good citizens and good neighbors—to cooperate with others who need their help. In the area of computers, this means teaching them to share software. Elementary schools, above all, should tell their pupils, “If you bring software to school, you must share it with the other children.” Of course, the school must practice what it preaches: all the software installed by the school should be available for students to copy, take home, and redistribute further.

Teaching the students to use free software, and to participate in the free software community, is a hands-on civics lesson. It also teaches students the role model of public service rather than that of tycoons. All levels of school should use free software.

1. RJ Reynolds tobacco company was fined $15m in 2002 for handing out free samples of cigarettes at events attended by children. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/tobaccotrial/usa.htm.

The above is taken from http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html

Copyright © 2003 Richard Stallman -- Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved.

GlobalClassroom is a proud supporter and user of Open Source software and our free classrooms for teacher are based in Moodle, a free open source learning management system.