Video: Academic Lectures available on Academic Earth

Academic Earth is an online repository for videotaped lectures presented by leading academics. Lectures are organized by lecturer, university, subject, and theme.

Previously, such filmed lectures would be accessible only through a portal like I-Tunes University. The advantage of Academic Earth is that it doesn't require the user to download a program like I-Tunes--which is an issue for online instructors who don't wish to require students to install I-Tunes on their home computers as well as for instructors working in computer labs where I-Tunes is not installed.

The site is available at http://www.academicearth.org/

Software: ShortKeys

As a college instructor, I often find myself writing the same comments on student papers. As a consequence, I went in search of a tool which would free me from the burden of repetition. Shortkeys is a "utility that allows you to set up replacement text or paragraphs for any given number of user defined keystrokes." [translation: it allows you to store & reuse blocks of commentary which can then be inserted into an electronic document].

Using it in conjunction with Microsoft Word's Comment function, I am able to provide a great deal of needed feedback to students in far shorter time than it would otherwise take. The video below provides a demo. In it I use the "plus" sign as a prefix symbol along with the code phrase "bre" (for brevity).

Shortkeys can be purchased at http://www.shortkeys.com/. There is also a free "lite" version.

Software: Google Building Maker

The clever boys and girls at Google have created another toy that can be used for learning. The Google Building Maker. I'll let them describe it in their own words:


"We like to think of Building Maker as a cross between Google Maps and a gigantic bin of building blocks. Basically, you pick a building and construct a model of it using aerial photos and simple 3D shapes – both of which we provide. When you're done, we take a look at your model. If it looks right, and if a better model doesn't already exist, we add it to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. You can make a whole building in a few minutes."

Download it here.

Word on the Street: Developmental Educations Woes often Lead to an educational "Bermuda Triangle"

One of the things which this blog seeks to do is provide a glimpse of what is being saying in the national press about community college learning in general and "at-risk" education in particular.

In "Higher Education's Bermuda Triangle" published in the Washington Monthly, the problems (and poltical fallout) facing developmental education in the community college are addressed.

Medieval Helpdesk

One of the biggest obstacles to educational innovations is the anxiety many teachers (and students) feel when it comes to technology. This humorous video (Norwegian with English subtitles) helps put tech anxiety in a historical perspective.

Game-based Learning

People who know me know that I am a big advocate for game-based learning. I think it is the best tool for moving out of the old, industrial-age model of education which dominates our schools (and which, vampire-like, refuses to die). I have a blog that I use purely as a repository for "serious games" as they are known in the business. It can be seen here.

http://aguidetoseriousgames.blogspot.com/

Video: Criminal Justice Studies at Harvard

Harvard has begun creating a broadcast version of its Introduction to Justice course
http://www.justiceharvard.org/