What DL is happening?

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Items included in this blog are also included in my website, http://www.acljohn.com/.

A big thank you to those who provide feedback, it is important to me to ensure I’m meeting your needs. We’ve been using Kample on our eMagazine web page to gather data and the image below shows our current ‘grading’ by you, our visitors…

Today’s Finds include…

1:

ConflictHistory is a mash up that combines a timeline of world wars with their geographical location, and presents all data on Google Maps.

The timeline starts from 3000 BC and covers conflicts up to 2005.

Users can view data for any period by simply adjusting a timeline that runs along the bottom of the map. The conflicts are marked with red markers and also listed in the floating menu.

On the floating menu...

• Click any conflict to zoom into it/them on the map
• Click the information icon to find out more about the conflict and/or us the link to a wikipedia article.

Find out more at http://www.conflicthistory.com/.

2:

If you have felt like trying tweeting but didn’t know where to start, this publication is for you.

It’s important to know the tools you are working with, and the reach of this innovative technology.

MakeUseOf has produced a PDF manual, filled with Twitter-knowhow.

"In over forty pages, MakeUseOf's publishing editor Mark O’Neill, tackles Twitter's features and provides tips-n-tricks. Learn to...

• work the interface,
• Tweet from your desktop etc.

With this free publication, Mark helps you to understand the potential of Twitter."

Download The Complete Guide to Twitter now in PDF at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-complete-guide-to-twitter-pdf/,
or read it online on Scribd.com <>

3:

If you consider yourself a mobile application lover, chances are you will like Appboy.

Appboy is a place where many people, interested in mobile applications, get together in order to benefit from a social 'environment'. Those who want to raise awareness about any innovative application they are developing are able to do that and get feedback from others in the community.

Appboy provides...

• a portal where visitors can...

• view applications
• suggest applications
• submit applications

a site where visitors, can...

• submit ideas
• view ideas
• vote on ideas

I have no doubt that many practitioners, learners etc., have good ideas about something that can be...

• useful or
• entertaining

...for many people and they are convinced that if they develop it they could make 'money'.

What are they going to do with that idea?

Are they going to stay as ideas, or will they go ahead and do something about it?

Appboy was created to give everyone the chance to promote ideas.

Find out more at http://www.appboy.com/.

4:

Vital is the £5.6 million scheme to help practitioners bring technology even more effectively into the learning environment; it is underway ahead of the programme’s much-anticipated official launch in January 2010.

Vital (Transforming Lessons, Inspiring Learning) is to be the overarching title for the collaboration between the Open University (OU) and e-skills UK. First announced in July, Vital’s goal is to foster and develop top-class continuing professional development (CPD) for practitioners in England who face the dual challenge of...

• stimulating increasingly technology-confident learners, and
• preparing learners for the ‘knowledge economy’ beyond education.

The Vital Programme will be making good use of opportunities, to set out the ambitions of Vital and explain the progress made to date, ahead of the scheme’s ‘hard’ launch at BETT 2010; the focus is to work alongside existing training providers and practitioners to build on best practice in this area, and with employers to identify ways for them to support the development of practitioners. The Vital Programme also wants to encourage practitioners to pre-register at http://www.vital.ac.uk/ in advance of the roll-out of courses from the start 2010.

Vital responds to the needs of two types of practitioners –

• those seeking to exploit ICT across the curriculum, and
• the specialists teaching technology subjects (Computing, IT and ICT) as disciplines in their own right.

From January, Vital will be offering six new face-to-face courses and at least three online courses; a network of nine regional Vital co-ordinators will be in place working with local training providers, schools, local authorities and employers to ensure provision is appropriate and tailored to each region’s needs.

Find out more and/or pre-register at http://www.vital.ac.uk/ or Watch the Vital keynote at Naace at http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/2009/10/11/ict-cpd-becomes-vital/.

5:

GeoDart is a geography trivia game where users answer geographical questions by placing darts in the correct locations on the map.

With the UMapper platform, you can build your own GeoDart game for any locale and use any questions on any map!

Visit http://www.umapper.com/pages/geodart/ to find out more and/or to produce your own.

6:

Free collaborative wikis, such as Wikipedia are now widely used by learners as a reference source.

In 2007 a number of UK veterinary schools began to explore the possibility of creating a common veterinary wiki. WikiVet was born out of the vision of developing a peer reviewed, comprehensive curriculum wiki to enhance the teaching of veterinary medicine.

The intention has been to...

• create a high quality resource, which can be used as a reliable reference work by students anywhere in the world.

The initiative currently involves staff and students at four UK veterinary schools with support from...

• the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and
• Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). 

The collaborative approach has draw upon a wealth of skills, experience and enthusiasm. The first section of the WikiVet to be developed was called WikiPath which has been followed by...

• WikiAnatomy,
• WikiBugs,
• WikiDrugs,
• WikiNormals and
• WikiPublic Health.

New sections currently in development include...

• WikiClinical, a clinical based section, and
• WikiWild, a section on wild animals and conservation.

In addition to the text content, WikiVet also has thousands of images and videos to further enhance the value of the site.

I'm informed, via the Association for Learning Technology Newsletter, that they have now started work on a new section called WikiTest, a Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Trust funded initiative to provide students with a quality assured, self directed learning and assessment resource within the site.

Take a closer look at http://w01.rvcwiki.wf.ulcc.ac.uk/index.php/Main_Page.

7:

The Colorado Community College System has a faculty wiki on which there is a page about Bloom's Taxonomy.

The Bloom's Taxonomy Tutorial page contains two flash based tutorials designed to help practitioners to...

• plan lessons and
• create assignments

...using Bloom's Taxonomy.

1. Tutorial one is a general overview of Bloom's Taxonomy.
2. Tutorial two applies the concepts of Bloom's Taxonomy to current Internet resources like...

• blogs,
• wikis, and
• multimedia mash-up tools.

These Bloom's Taxonomy tutorials could be helpful for ITT (Initial Teacher Training) and/or practitioners trying to apply the concepts of Bloom's Taxonomy to the use of current web tools.

Find out more by visiting http://faculty.ccconline.org/index.php?title=Blooms_Taxonomy_Tutorial_FLASH.