Tools of the Week: 10.6.2008 – 10.19.2008

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Is a website that helps you discover great websites.  Users categorize, tag and rate websites using the service which allows you and I to search and find things that we are looking for.

http://www.yugma.com/

Yugma is a service that allows you to host or attend on-line meetings.  Documents can be shared, skype can be used for phone calls, users can share their desktops and more can get done!

http://www.zoho.com/

Zoho is a collection of web based software, much like Google documents etc…  According to many newspapers etc…  this is far superior to Google’s suite, the applications are richer and there are just more choices.

http://www.freepath.com/

Free path seems to be a mixture between iTunes, presentation software and an ftp site.

http://textthemob.com/

Text The Mob seems like a really cool service.  At the basic level, it is a way to build a direct marketing list by engaging folks with questions which can be answered via text message.  Very cool!

Psycology Videos: http://learner.org/resources/series138.html

Notes:

Memory can be motivated by your surroundings when you learned something.

Memory can be traced to your physical state and biological position, to interference with other stimulus.

Ebbinghouse had no content, which organized the familiar and the unfamiliar.  Discovering meaning, order and organization within the information helps retainment.

One of the most powerful strategy of the human mind; discovering meaning,order and organization in the information it encounters.

Memories are stored in networks, activating any of the connected networks will help students learn.

Cognitive Processes

In order to learn, we must create schema and mental maps which allow us to learn.

The mind learns by comparing things, much like a computer.

How do experiences turn to knowledge?

Sensation and Perception

Visual perception takes place in three areas.  An image is simply a pattern of stimulation.

Approximate Stimulus:

OMG: There was more that I missed…

So, apparently I also missed the following:

• Jing: http://www.jingproject.com/
• Screencast-o-matic: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
• Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/
• Poll Everywhere: http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Hurmph….

Missing Week’s Blog: Picnick, Mogulus, Skrbl and GE Whiteboard

So this past week was riddle with heartach and sadness as I said goodbye to an amazing young woman.

That said, I did not blog as I was supposed to.  Instead I stayed awake nights asking chiche questions such as, “why do the good die young?”

Here are the topics that I was supposed to have blogged about, take them and explore!

• GE Whiteboard: http://www.imagination3.com/
• Skrbl: http://www.skrbl.com/
• Mogulus: http://www.mogulus.com/
• Picnik: http://www.picnik.com/

Enjoy!

Multimedia Learning: Chapters 1-3

I know, I’m behind. I do carry this book everywhere I go, it just seems that crazy things have been happening while I am trying to make time to read. For instance, Monday morning I got on my bus to work, thinking that I would have a nice 30 minutes to read. No, no, no… a man had a heart attack and we had to pull over and it was a tad hard to concentrate. It’s things like these that make me look bad.

Regardless of my trampled efforts to get caught up I do enjoy the information and find it very relevant to my current projects. On page 52 Mayer provides us a glimpse into the limited cognitive resources of learners and how the allocation of said resources happens during learning. It turns out that we simply can’t pay attention to everything going on in any educational environment and that as Instructional Designers understanding the hierarchy of information is essential to every lesson’s organizational structure.

Currently I am working with a subject matter expert who is a technical expert in her field. She is a genius at her craft, but is married to a lot of information that should be placed in secondary and teritary information levels. It is my job to organize our course content in a manner that provides these limited cognitive resources a path toward the proper allocation and thus, essential learnings.

How will I do? We’ll see!

The Trials and Tribulations of Richard E. Mayer

Ok, I feel a little like letting you in on some recent life activity.  Last fall, when I started this MA program I was in my 5th year of teaching. Things were under my belt, so to speak.  I sauntered in, pulled amazing curriculum from the drawers of my desk and left most of my energy for my own education and the ever present interpersonal communication needed when teaching high school.  I was a master of my proverbial domain.  That said, I was able to complete 18 credits in one year with a 4.0 grade point average. 

This fall I have just started a new job as an education manager for a corporation.  The move from public education to corporate has been very smooth, I just don’t have everything mastered quite the way that I did last year.  I am only taking one class, but have found that by the time I get home in the evening (I ride the bus, so I get home about an hour after I leave the office) I can’t stay awake while I read Mayer’s text. 

Teaching was MUCH more exausting, in the evenings I would come home physically and mentally drained.  I did however, have time to rest and then do my homework after work. 

Now that I have identified my problem (I hope), my new plan is to get up earlier in the morning and read my book, do my posts and check the course shell.  I remember my mother doing this as she worked on her Masters Degree while I was in high school and now I realize why she was up all of those cold mornings, drinking that black coffee and smoking like a chimney. 

She has quite smoking (now that I’m out of her hair).

House Shopping, what fun, what fun.

*ahem*

Sidebar.

Looking for a house is kind of a pain in the neck, ya know?  I swear that CNN is reporting a huge surplus of houses in the area but I can’t seem to want to live in those neighborhoods.  WHY?  Why must I be so picky?

Well, wish me luck.

Twitter: Yea!!! Fun for you and me.

Twitter: Home of the Tweet

The first experience that I had with Twitter was during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.  Just outside of my window a very large tent was built (I say tent, but this baby had all steel construction, a second floor, real windows, air conditioning and FLOR carpet) in a matter of days.  All of us in the office were dying to find out what exactly was going to go on in the tent and when I came across the information in the Wall Street Journal I just couldn’t wait to share.

The Journal had pushed us on an internet search for even more information and when we did our Google search for “the big tent Denver” I discovered that I could get blow by blow updates regarding the activities inside.  Let’s say that I signed up immediately and have been intrigued by twitter ever since.

Later-gator.

Pownce: I just don’t get it

Pownce: Another social network? Huh?

Ok, so I don’t get this one.  The explination says “Pownce is a way to keep in touch with and share stuff with your friends. Send people files, links, events, and messages and then have real conversations with the recipients.”

Can’t I do this with Google, Facebook, Myspace, Delicious?  Why would I need another tool?  Please help me understand.

Peace.

Ning: Community As You Design

Ning: Build Your Own Social Network

So, let’s say that you are a collector.  “Ok” you say, “what do I collect?”  Well, friend, let’s say that you are collector of 19th century car mufflers.  In fact, you are such an amazing collector of said mufflers that you have begun communicating with other collectors of mufflers on a daily basis.  Well, now all of this communication is clogging up your inbox and you have started to feel a bit overwhelmed with the albeit friendly assault on your time.

Never fear!!!  Ning is here!!!   Ning is a free, web based place where you can develop a social network for all of those muffler fanatics.  So go-on, get out of here and get to building your Ning network!

Later…