Coming soon to a computer near you…
Interactive learning for children (Pre-K through First Grade)
Stay tuned for additional information.
Interactive Learning…
Interactive learning for children (Pre-K through First Grade)
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Disneyland’s New Years Eve Celebration
Well…this YouTube video is exactly what we saw out of our suite window. It was absolutely FREEZING so it was nice to bring in the new year with champagne and a warm room. It was amazing – there were 4 different areas in Disneyland going on at the same time and it began exactly at midnight. What an experience.
There will be more on our Disney experience once I return to the eastcoast. At least we missed the snow… but I thought Arizona was supposed to be warm? No tan this year.
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Christmas Day
I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas – eat, drink and be merry for today is a day to rejoice – the saviour has come. A special Merry Christmas to Sue, Steph, Steve, Stosh, Laura, Sam, Alex, Tim, Austin and Jesse – hope your holiday is happy.
Well, went to church last night – what a wonderful service. Radient Church of Surprise Arizona is such an awesome place to worship. There was a video presented which I thought was absolutely hilarious and want to share with you. Enjoy…
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Christmas Eve to Phoenix
Hi everyone… I can’t believe that I am blogging from 35K feet on a flight to Phoenix Arizona to visit my awesome daughter and fabulous granddaughter. How times have changed. On the ground in Vermont I have to pull teeth to get internet (no broadband only satellite) and here I am on an airplane. Who would have thunk…LOL My son is meeting us tomorrow and we are going to all be together which is nice seeing that it has been a few years. Boy, I guess I am getting to be an old softy.
I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. Remember what this holiday is all about… remember those less fortunate than you… Until next week – blogging from Disneyland for New Years Eve.
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2010 Horizon Report
2010 Horizon Report
The Horizon Report is a report which identifies new and emerging technologies impacting learning and teaching within and over the next 5 years. The report also presents challenges potentially affecting learners and teachers over this same time period.
There are an array of technologies presented within the Horizon Report which as an educator, you should be aware of.
[click] on the links below to view the technologies
Time-to-Adoption Horizon One Year or Less
- Mobile Computing - Network capable devices; You can bet that pretty much some high school and pretty much all college students carry some form of mobile device allowing their connectivity to the world to rapidly grow. These mobile devices include everything from Smart Phones to IPADs to netbooks supporting the opportunity for communication, networking and ultimately learning.
- Open Content - There are tons of free content available for your use today from brain-storming programs to web-design programs. Due to rising costs of education, this provides the learner a tremendous opportunity to access areas and applications for free which would previously be very costly.
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years
- Electronic Books – With the price of textbooks going up and the price of electronic reading devices like the Kindle coming down, the tendency in higher education is to get their required books in ebook form. Also, there are some high schools which are assigning Kindles or eReaders to students with the required books downloaded on each. Still early in its’ conception it is providing a lower cost, immediate download, easier on the students body (less heavy books to carry) and the ability to have all books in one place (compact).
- Simple Augmented Reality – Simply, there are applications for everything imaginable to fit your SmartPhones and computers which are easy to download providing accessibility to anything and anyone.
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years
- Gesture-Based Computing – Interfaces created based on natural human gestures; For example the WII…
iMaestro 3D Augmented Mirror – Another example of gesture-based computer (very interesting for musical students)
- Visual Data Analysis – Through complex computations along with extraordinary graphics, this will allow humans to view much more complex visual presentations.
This is just a taste of what to look for in the Horizon Report. [click] on the link, The 2010 Horizon Report , to view the complete report.
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LMS and Moodle…
In this blog, I am going to talk a little bit about Learning Management Systems (LMS), what they are and how are they used. LMS is a software application created to deliver, report on, and manage learning content and learner progress and interactions. Most LMS are web-based to facilitate “just in time” training.
There are so many types of open source or free LMS applications like: Bodington, Docebo, eFront, Dokeos, Claroline, Moodle, Sakai, Joomla, Plateau and Blackboard to name a few. To me these names sound like the names of family pets...Where do they dig up these labels????
Types of Learning Management Systems
The learning management system we are using is called Moodle (an open source LMS) and was developed about 5 years ago by Michelle Moore. The premise of its’ design was to be able to pass knowledge to others through interaction in a social way or social constructionist theory of learning and be free. This system enables the facilitator or teacher to add static or non-changing pages, interactivity and social networking (chatting, forums, etc) providing the learner or student to have a better chance of reaching their learning potential.
Check out the video below; It gives a real nice overview of the what and hows of Moodle.
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Life without the internet…
What would you do in this world of rapidly changing technology with no internet? Would you be able to function as if nothing was different? Would you even care? This is what I was faced with recently.
My husband and I are building our retirement home in Vermont so when Friday afternoon comes we pack the car with clothes, food and dogs and head to Whitingham Vermont on our weekly jaunt. I never in my wildest dreams thought that the only internet available in this place would be dial-up. I really thought this was a joke – well folks they weren’t kidding (only 10% of the American population still uses dial-up). They said that they would be getting some type of faster internet by December. I guess this is what they have been saying for the past couple Decembers – not too impressive or promising. They don’t move too quickly here in Vermont.
Due to the fact that I needed something to connect with on the weekends I decided to take my chances on good old dial-up (old indeed – this is what I used over 20 years ago). The cost for this wonderful new technology with my basic phone, was well over $90 (not cheap by any means). Now I was ready to meet the world again, however slowly… I was all ready to log in to GOTOMEETING and lo and behold I found that my new computer did not have a place to plug the phone cord in. Needless to say, I had to do something different. What would you do? Stay tuned for the rest of the story to bring in the New Year…
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Blogging…..for the 50+ generation
My first ”real” blog is about blogs… what a unique topic right? OK, what is a blog. Thank you to Ames Brown who spent so much time with me explaining this “difficult” concept. LOL
WordPress.org Codex Introduction_to_Blogging defines a blog as…an abbreviated version of “weblog,” which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information.” So what does that all mean to us “adults.”
First lets look a little bit of how I think blogging came about. I am probably going to show my age here but while growing up there was no such thing as a blog. No “normal” family even had a computer (remember the typewriter?). We were taught to journal in a paper diary or whatever we could fine. I absolutely hated journaling, so consequently I never did it! Well, as times progressed and the computer took charge of our lives, lo and behold, along came the blog (wasn’t there a song similar to this – “and then Along Came Mary by the Mamas and Pappas”???? – sorry I digress…) to disseminate various forms of information. Blogs are an easy way to increase your social network in today’s society as well as a way to get your ideas out and about.
Let’s take a quick look at what a is blog through the following video. Enjoy and I look forward to any comments you may have.
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Welcome…
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Lao Tzu
Welcome …
My vision is to present you with new and upcoming computer technologies, bringing along some basic instruction on how to use these applications. nGaged2Learn is designed for the person who is apprehensive of working with computers. I want this to be a place where you can play and have fun!
So… sit back, relax and nGage yourself in the lifelong journey of Learning.
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