Secret Google Tips for Researchers

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced a series of four videos giving tips on using google for research purposes.

The videos are about 10min long, very easy to follow and do provide some useful basic google search tips, despite being produced over 4 years ago! Also, there does not seem to be a fifth video even though it is billed as a 5 part series!!

Thanks to A.A. Karim for highlighting the series.

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

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50 Resources for Administration Students

Online Schools have recently compiled a very useful list of their recommended 50 Resources for Students Attending Online Education Administration Schools.

The list is divided into seven categories:
* Principals and Ed Leadership
* Technology
* Teachers
* Classroom Management
* Librarians
* Education Policy
* Resources

The Online Schools list is aimed at those taking a degree in education administration and who will be future leaders in the field of education. But, even if you are not specializing in administration, it is well worth checking out the various bloggers.

I was delighted and honored to find that my companion blog Free Resources for Education has in fact been included in the 'Resources' section. Many thanks Shawn!

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RSA - 21st Century Enlightenment

This video animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson. Brilliant, both the message and the animation!! It's kind of addictive :)

If you like it, then, you can choose from over 300 other videos at the RSA Youtube channel. So what exactly is the RSA.

Well, for over "250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress".

The RSA encourage "public discourse and critical debate by providing platforms for leading experts to share new ideas on contemporary issues".

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Powerful Current Data Visualizations

Google Labs' Public Data Explorer lets you view and create charts based on public data such as mortality, fertility and unemployment rates. The charts and maps animate over time making the changes easier to follow and understand. I love the interactivity of these charts.

This employment chart, which is very relevant in Ireland at the moment, clearly shows the rapid increase in unemployment over the last 3 years linked no doubt to the rapid decline in the economy over the same period!!!



It is quite easy to find out from this chart that, in Ireland, over the last 50 years, the average family size has decreased from 4 to 2 children while the life expectancy has increased from 70yrs to 80yrs (approximately). Astonishing to see that the life expectancy in Afghanistan and Zimbabwe is almost half that value!

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Set of Useful eLearning Tools

The Learning Tools from UBC Arts ISIT are a set of useful eLearning tools that can be used to enhance teaching, while also providing a different learning approach for your students.

Although, several of the tools are specifically geared towards language learners, most of them can be used for any subject area.

The tools include:

• Language Pronunciation Tool - a revolutionary linguistics toolkit designed to enhance a student's comprehension and pronunciation of a particular language. 
• Vocabulary Memorization Platform - helps students memorize the spelling of words by playing a series of games. 
• Handwriting Tool Handwriting Tool - a language learning tool that helps students learn to write and use Asian characters.
• Timeline Tool - a web- based tool that allows you to construct an interactive timeline with audio and visual effects.
• Multimedia Learning Object Authoring Tool - enables you to easily combine video, audio, images and texts into one synchronized learning object.
• Image Annotation Tool - allows you to upload images and quickly create text boxes referring to parts of a diagram, painting, or photo.
• Image Zoom Tool - allows you to upload large size images and quickly author a presentation with zooming functionalities and text explanation of the image. 
• Interactive Video/Transcript Viewer - an application providing a more functional way to view video archives and preserve oral narrative, especially for academic purposes.
• Pachyderm Presentation to VUE Converter - extracts concept mapping information from a Pachyderm presentation.
  
• FileShare - for sharing large files (up to 2GB per file size) with others.

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Great Tutorials from GCFLearnFree

GCFLearnFree provide "quality, innovative online learning opportunities" for anyone who wants to improve their technology, literacy or mathematics skills.

There are over 200 tutorials available including topics such as Facebook, Microsoft office, open office, computer basics, email and Internet safety.

GCFLearnFree also provide free online classes, for the Microsoft applications, where you can learn to use these applications with the help of an online instructor.

You can also create an account to store your own personal profile and learning history.

A very useful resource indeed!

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Sharing: An Obligation...

Opening the K12 Online Conference for 2010, Dean Shareski argues that sharing within education, in the 21st century, is a "moral imperative".

It is hard not to agree, as you listen to Dean drawing on examples from his own experience. As he says "we are now in the very early stages of a sharing revolution" facilitated not least by the explosion of Web2.0 technology. Great keynote Dean!



Teachers and students from around the world are becoming empowered to share their learning experiences and best work practices. What a wonderful scenario.

Educators such as Mohamed Salah Abidi and Tarak Brahmi, who produce the Tunisian English Teaching Forum Magazine, are sharing freely and willingly with a global audience. You only need to take a look at their publication to see what is possible. Indeed, I was honoured to be given the opportunity to contribute to the latest issue. Many thanks Tarak. I am already looking forward to the next one!

This is just one of the many examples of what is already happening.

Vive la révolution!!!

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