Weekly learning technology digest... 4

Image from pynomoscato under a CC
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license

Friday already!  Which can mean only one thing - another weekly learning technology digest.  This week's haul is mostly focused on learning and teaching-related news, mainly because that's been what I was looking at as I prepared a presentation on the drivers for technology enhanced learning (which I'll write up and share here soon).  Naturally these links were begging to catch my eye!

So, here goes with this week's articles:

• A model of learning objects based on Bloom's revised taxonomy - this one comes from the Iowa State University and it's a super little resource if you're designing learning outcomes, especially if you want to get a feel for how the taxonomy hangs together.
• Best practices in using Twitter in the classroom - an infographic - which I'm very partial to! - from Dr Rey Junco at Lock Haven University.  What's particularly nice about this is not just that it gives you some ideas about using Twitter, but also that he's chosen to present his research findings in this way - it makes a change from the traditional academic poster and is pretty effective.
• Make your own eBooks - Following on from Dr Chris Stokes' blog post last week on 'Journeys in an Augmented Reality', his mention of iBooks meant that when I saw this article it immediately stood out.  It's really not as complicated as you might think and as a format for getting your content 'mobile', this is an excellent starting point.
• Disruptive technologies in higher education: adapt or get left behind - is a provocative but thought provoking article which appeared in The Guardian's Higher Education Network (if you're not a member, it's worth joining for free as the articles they publish are highly relevant to anyone working in an HEI).  Essentially the thrust of the argument is 'US universities are going massively open with their courses... the UK isn't.  What are we going to do about it?' - and along those lines came another article, this time from Wired on 'The Stamford Education Experiment' which is worth reading in parallel
• The Ultimate eLearning Design and Development Checklist from Nicole Legaut at Langevin Learning Services, is extensive and although might be a little daunting could also help in evaluating skills ahead of developing online materials.  'Do we actually have the skills to do the things on this list and do we understand why each element is there?' as starting questions for a workshop with a programme team could be a great way of grounding the process of online course design in reality.

I think that any successful use of technology in the curriculum has at its heart an understanding of the processes of learning and the art of teaching.  The above are all little nuggets which tease you towards doing things just a bit differently and get you to think about where technology might fit.  Hope you find them useful.  

As ever, if you've seen anything else interesting this week, pop it in the comments below!  I'd love to see what caught your attention too.

Sarah