Inside eLearning by Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. : Web Resources

Can I Tweet My Way to an A?

susan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:03:00 GMT

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

Related Online Degrees:

Dear Dr. Moppsie,

I am totally hooked on Twitter. In my opinion, it's the best way ever to get the word out and to let people know what's going on. I wish I could use it with my online class. Do you know of any ways it's being used?

I love online courses, but sometimes they frustrate me because I feel I have to be online to communicate with my classmates. Couldn't we just "tweet"each other?

Signed,

Tweetness and Light in Texas

**********************************************

Dear Tweetness,

I'm very happy to hear you're excited by Twitter. You're not alone, its just amazing how many people use it to communicate to groups. It's a lot more efficient and immediate than text messaging. In many ways, it's even better than RSS feeds because they're so easy to use with your cell phone.

Twitter is addicting! Yes, I follow several users on Twitter — and, yes, I admit, I follow a few celebrities and also news feeds.

You're right. Twitter can be perfect for e-learning. Instructors can set up a Twitter feed for the class, which has all the class members in it, and it's easy to follow. The instructor can send tweets, and students can "tweet" to each other.

Tweets, with their short-burst 140-character limit, and the ability to achieve ubiquitous, spontaneous messaging to a potentially massive number of recipients, can be an excellent way to maintain a high level of communication, openness, and motivation.

So, let's take a look at what we can do with Twitter in the e-learning space. First, let's start with instructors.

Instructor Tweets:

Due dates: Weekly reminders of key due dates are very helpful. In fact, they're key for good time management.
Critical concepts: Worried that you're missing the major points in the unit or the lesson? Ask the instructor to send out tweets that list the critical / key concepts. They will make mental organizers. You'll be able to start developing a schema for yourself, which will help you create clusters and groups of knowledge. It will be easy to retrieve them.
Key questions: Sometimes it's a great idea to have a little "twitterfest" your instructor can send out a good question for you to answer (in 140 words or less!) and all the members of your course can tweet a response. It's a wonderful conversation that can take place any time, any where.
Links to Flickr, YouTube: You may not be able to stream a video or retrieve graphics from a web-based image repository such as Flickr. However, you might be able to send a tweet with a link. You can email the link to yourself and then go to the website once you have a wifi connection and enough bandwidth to download or stream the media files. Alternatively, you can upload your own photos or video and send out a link to the file. It's a great approach if you're taking, say, a biology class, and you're looking for things in the field. For example, you could take pictures of environmental problems - erosion, a pond overrun with algae and pond scum. Your only limits are those of your own imagination. Explore, express, share!

Student Tweets:

Here are a few things you might tweet with your fellow students:

Questions for professor
General comments about course content
Responses to questions
Notes and observation from the field
Collaborations

Administrative Tweets:

Having the ability to contact many people simultaneously is a huge benefit for college administrators who need to get the word out quickly, especially when immediate action is called for, such as enrollment deadlines, scholarship announcements, and more.
Announcements
Directions
Bulletins
Alerts

Before you start using twitter in your studies

Can too many tweets constitute a distraction?
Make sure the tweets are relevant.
Connect tweets to learning objectives.

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Autism and E-Learning

susan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:56:00 GMT

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

When Brender was just 18 months old, Liza, his mom, knew something was very different about him. While other toddlers would interact with each other at the day care center, Brender would not. He would not look at the other children, nor would he smile. When anyone tried to move him from his place, or take away his favorite green plastic blocks, he would scream so loudly that it appeared he might go into convulsions.

Related Degrees:

Special Education

Early Childhood Education

After many visits to the pediatrician and many rounds of tests, it was determined that Brender had a form of autism. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), what Brender suffered from was one of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). ASDs are developmental disabilities that result in impaired social interaction and communication. ASDs are also typified by the presence of unusual behaviors and interests.

Many of Brender's behaviors were connected with Asperger's Syndrome (http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-symptoms). After speaking with the pediatrician and obtaining information, Liza soon realized that Brender was likely to have difficulty in a typical, traditional educational setting; the schoolhouse scene would be difficult for him.

According to WebMD, children with Asperger's Syndrome may exhibit the following behaviors and cognitive challenges: (http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-symptoms)

Not pick up on social cues and may lack inborn social skills, such as being able to read others' body language, start or maintain a conversation, and take turns talking
Dislike any changes in routines
Appear to lack empathy
Be unable to recognize subtle differences in speech tone, pitch, and accent that alter the meaning of others' speech. Thus, your child may not understand a joke or may take a sarcastic comment literally. Likewise, his or her speech may be flat and difficult to understand because it lacks tone, pitch, and accent.
Have a formal style of speaking that is advanced for his or her age. For example, the child may use the word "beckon" instead of "call" or the word "return" instead of saying "Come back."

After Liza was able to obtain her initial information, she worried about the future.

What happens when autistic children reach their teen years? Where can they study? What happens when they grow to be adults? Are they still considered autistic?

Autism is in the rise. According to the CDC, one out of 150 individuals from all socio-demographic groups is affected by ASDs (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/overview.htm). There are competing theories about why the number is increasing. Some claim the number is not increasing at all — that it is something that has always present in our society, but we never had a clear-cut label to define it. Others say it's on the rise, and they blame childhood vaccinations. Others blame food additives, while others point to environmental toxins and overstimulation due to our fast-paced world.

Whatever the issue, the rising number of children, teens, and adults with autism is stretching the resources of schools and entire communities. As the children turn to teens and adults, there is a tragedy in the making as some autistic adults are unable to participate fully in society, and may fall prey to drugs, alcohol, crime, and ultimately prison. Clearly, an education program that offers hope would be a blessing.

Liza found that traditional school settings are very difficult for children with autism. Not only is it difficult for them to focus on classwork because of the numerous distractions in the world around them, they are often targets of bullying and ridicule. In the past, it was very common for an autistic child to go to a special school for the developmentally disabled. They would rarely graduate. Even the austistic teen-agers who had very high test scores in cognitive functioning, and who showed an aptitude for certain tasks, fell by the wayside and failed to graduate.

Children with autism can often succeed in academic programs, and can graduate from high school when their environment can be managed to avoid the triggering, precipitating actions, and when they are provided with curriculum that has been designed expressly with the challenges of autism in mind. The key to success is often assistive technology, and finding a program that is computer-based, which allows the autistic teen to feel calm and in control of his or her environment.

Adults who were diagnosed as autistic when they were children can also often succeed in online programs, particularly when accommodations are made to avoid certain types of assessment, and when they are provided with the right kind of assistive technology for their needs.

Assistive Technologies for Autistic E-Learners

According to Susan Stokes, in a study published in 2007 (http://www.specialed.us/autism/assist/asst10.htm), some of the most effective educational programs for children with autism involve using organizing one's learning space, maintaining order, and keeping firmly grounded in the concrete world.

E-learning is ideal. Online courses that incorporate schedules, clearly laid-out calendars, and an interface that is generally free of distractions, such as flashing images, scrolling banners, or other moving items, can be very helpful for students with autism.

Further, connections to the concrete world via images and photographs are also very helpful because they help the autistic e-learner feel grounded and connected.

Assistive technologies can help autistic e-learners communicate. (http://www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/2723.aspx)

Learning Environments for Autistic E-Learners

The ideal learning environment involves:

At home, room with computer, few distractions
In library
Study room

Curriculum Considerations for Autistic E-Learners

Building block approach

Math: can focus on the equations and solution sets. In contrast with most adult learners, it is not necessary to make connections to real-world applications. Repetition of problems, and very straightforward problem-solving approach. Avoid simulations or graphics with flashing colors, moving lights.
Statistics, skills, complex tasks: In this case, be sure to provide clear, step-by-step instructions, and include many opportunities for repetition and practices. Repetitions of the tasks will build confidence.
Accounting: Clear presentation of the formulas and the spreadsheets. Clear directions, and provide guidance for each formula. As in the case of statistics, be sure to provide clear, step-by-step instructions, and include many opportunities for repetition and practices. Repetitions of the tasks will build confidence.
Writing: Connect to experiences, and write with concrete details. When possible, use flow charts, checklists, and other clear, easy-to-follow procedural guides.

The Future:

When Liza found out about the assistive technologies that have been developed, and the instructional strategies behind effective e-learning, she turned to Brender and gave him a big hug. Not expecting her gesture, he, of course, recoiled. All the more reason to work with Brender, thought Liza.

Home schooling was an obvious starting point. If no one could help her in the local school system, she could always set up something at home. Liza, however, was in luck. Her school system had recently expanded the special needs facilities, and they had computer labs with assistive technologies. Students could take online courses, and receive special guidance and tutoring. Brender would be well served there, and Liza could take him to school and not fear for his safety or his future.

Autistic learners have hope. With assistive technologies, well-designed e-learning programs, and a support system with tutors and guides, autistic e-learners can obtain an excellent education and achieve their potential.

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Renewable Energy Careers

susan — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:02:00 GMT

Renewable Energy Careers: Where Are the Jobs? Where Are the Degrees?

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

One of the most exciting areas for new jobs is in the energy sector, specifically in renewable energy. However, what are the jobs and where can one obtain training? Renewable energy sector jobs include design, engineering, installation, auditing, and programming for green power, which includes solar, wind, biomass (cellulosic ethanol), hydropower, and geothermal energy.

Where are the jobs?

Energy auditing: For the smart grid to really work, it's necessary to identify the true patterns of energy consumption, and to be able to make recommendations for more energy efficient substitutes. This involves learning how to audit to determine costs, ways to increase efficiency, and to test new design.

Solar design: Graduates should demonstrate an understanding of photovoltaic principles, the current manufacturing facilities, and the places where photovoltaic energy can be implemented.

Energy modeling: Being able to model energy from different sources enables the individual to be able to work on hybrid solutions -- the energy "farm" -- that may have three or four sources of energy on a single expanse of land. Education in this area allows one to integrate geothermal, wind, solar, biomass, and fossil fuels.

Wind farm design and operation: Wind farms can be small or large, and they can be locations that range from remote rural to windfarms on the edge of a town, where the wind turbines are owned by the local municipality.

Wind turbine installations - residential, small farm-light commercial, large commercial: The jobs are literally all over the globe, and they range from massive wind turbine installations to small windmills used for residential or light industrial purposes (taking the load off diesel generators, for example).

Photovoltaic manufacturing: Technology is advancing rapidly in the area of the manufacture of photovoltaic cells used in solar panels.

Colleges and Universities offering Renewable Energy Programs

Crowder College – Neosho, Missouri www.crowder.edu/MARET Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology (MARET) (associates degrees in solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass technologies)
Lane Community College - Eugene, Oregon http://www.lanecc.edu/
Lane has three two-year degree programs with a sustainability focus:

· Energy Management

· Renewable Energy Technology

· Water Conservation

San Juan College, Farmington, New Mexico
Renewable Energy Program http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/documents/MathSci/RENG/content/REeFlyergfxlres.pdf
Bronx Community College, Bronx, New York
The Center for Sustainable Energy http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/ http://www.csebcc.org/
Humboldt State University, Arcata, California
B.S. and M.S. programs in Environmental Resources Engineering http://www.humboldt.edu/
Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina
Undergraduate Program in Appropriate Technology http://www.tec.appstate.edu/
Illinois State University, Department of Technology
Renewable Energy Program http://www.tec.ilstu.edu/renewable_energy/
Arizona State University, School of Sustainability http://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/
Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania
M.S. degree in Sustainable Systems http://www.sru.edu/pages/6781.asp
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Solar Energy Laboratory (SEL) http://sel.me.wisc.edu/
Oregon Institute of Technology
Renewable Energy Center http://www.oit.edu/
Washington State University
Renewable Energy Program http://www.energy.wsu.edu/projects/renewables/bioenergy.cfm
Farmingdale College, Farmingdale, NY
Solar Energy Center http://www.farmingdale.edu/
State University of New York-Canton: 4-year degree program in alternative and renewable energy. http://www.canton.edu/csoet/alt_energy/

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The eLearner Most Likely to Succeed: Retention Secrets

susan — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:30:00 GMT

By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

Why do students who seem to be off to a great start in their online courses seem to crash and burn? How is it that the students you though would never make it actually graduate early, and with great grade points? The answer is not an easy one. Why? Achieving success in an online program is much more complicated than it may seem at first glance, and it may not be as easy to find out success strategies, especially if you have not established contact with fellow students, and you don't have a friend or acquaintance who is going through it with you.

The way to stay in school and to succeed in your online program is to plan and to self-monitor. To do so effectively, you'll need to be able to identify the various aspects and elements of your course, your program, and your life. Here is a checklist of elements that will help you succeed and your courses. They will also allow you to work on all the aspects of your life that relate to your academic career to make sure that your progress is smooth, filled with benefits to you, and profoundly motivating to you.

Curriculum Planning

Work closely with your advisor.
Take courses in the correct sequence.
Do not skip prerequisites.
Take the correct number of hours, manage your load.
Balance courses (correct balance of easy/hard)
Make sure you have core competencies in writing and math.
Take accelerated courses with caution and planning.
Avoid Incompletes ("I"s).
Purchase your books early.
Buy the correct books.

Interaction

Establish positive communication with your instructors.
Connect with classmates, share information with them.
Seek mentors, study buddies, tutors early.
Find ways to obtain information about registration, advising, library resources, support services.

Career Planning

Choose a major you care about.
Make sure your major connects to your career goals and interests.
Take virtual internships when possible, gain experience in your career area.
Investigate credit for experience (portfolio).

Financial Planning

Take out as few student loans as possible.
Credit by exam when possible (CLEP, DANTES, Excelsior)
Credit for portfolio when applicable.
Investigate and apply for scholarships.

Infrastructure and Technology Planning

Purchase a good computer with sufficient capacity.
Make sure you have a good connection.
Use mobile devices to communicate as much as you can (check e-mail, send messages, post to discussion, listen to lectures, watch videos).
Make sure you have the software you need.
Keep up to date with plug-ins (Flash, Java, Javascript, etc.) needed for your software.
Familiarize yourself with the learning management system. Be sure to go through any training that is available.

Study Habits, Study Resources

Create a study environment that fits your lifestyle.
Set goals.
Manage time effectively.
Adjust your study habits to fit your learning preferences and styles.
Visit your virtual library and resources often.
Investigate tutor centers.
Use simulations, serious games, and virtual worlds (Second Life, etc.) when it helps.
Avoid distractions.

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Web Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Articles: Where are the Free Web-Based Research Sources and Premium Library Services?

susan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:30:00 GMT

By Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

As you start to work on your research papers, you may find it to be rather confusing. Do you just Google everything on the Web? Will your results be adequate? Ideally, your research will involve a combination of free Web-based search and premium content. Further, if your college provides access to databases, encyclopedias, and dictionaries, which ones do you use? The options are dizzying, and many are not reliable. Here is a discussion of well-known databases and their content.

Free Web-Based Research Sources and Databases

All of the databases and research sources listed below have free search and some free content. Some may ask you to pay for premium access.

HighBeam Research

HighBeam is a premiere online library where you can find research, facts, and articles. We collect millions of articles from newspapers like The Washington Post and The Boston Globe, magazines like The Economist and Newsweek, and journals like JOPERD and Journal of Research in Childhood Education. We deliver all of this in a single research Web site. HighBeam also provides an in-depth online library of reference works. Research online dictionaries, including Webster's New World Dictionary and The Oxford American College Dictionary as well as encyclopedias from Britannica and Columbia.

Findarticles.com

This is a very useful and complete source for business, technology, and reference sources. Many articles are full-text, but each page is on a separate Web page, which makes it difficult to print out or save. You may purchase articles.

Britannica Online

Encyclopedia, respected and thorough. Britannica.com includes a portion of the contents of the venerable print edition. You can also simultaneously search for reviews of the 125,000 hand-picked reference sites, related books and current articles from magazines such as Discover, The Economist and Newsweek.

MSN Encarta (Atlas, Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Quizzes, K-12, Adult Learning)

This free encyclopedia from Microsoft contains 17,000 articles and more than 2,200 photos, illustrations, maps, charts and tables. You can also access the World Atlas and the World English Dictionary, a "talking dictionary" replete with audio files.

Encyclopedia.com

Offers more than 50,000 articles from The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (Third Edition). Encyclopedia.com offers 170,000 links, including cross-referenced articles and other sites. You can also access articles and images from the Electric Library for a fee.

Pathfinder

Search and connect to the Web sites of the publications/Web sites of Time-Warner (Forbes, Time, Fortune, Sunset, People, EW, etc.).

Wikipedia

This is popular, but use with caution. Do not cite Wikipedia in serious academic papers. Anyone can add to Wikipedia, and the information is often biased or incomplete — sometimes even inaccurate. As a result, it’s highly unreliable. Use Wikipedia as a starting point, but don’t trust it.

Ask.com

A search engine, but it also includes a number of dictionaries and encyclopedias. Its search engine is sufficiently different from Google's to yield unusual and refreshing results.

Art References:

Government Statistics

FedStats

Statistics from more than 100 agencies.

ChildStats

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (Forum) is a collection of 22 Federal government agencies involved in research and activities related to children and families. The Forum was founded in 1994 and formally established in April 1997 under Executive Order No. 13045. The mission of the Forum is to foster coordination and collaboration and to enhance and improve consistency in the collection and reporting of Federal data on children and families. The Forum also aims to improve the reporting and dissemination of information on the status of children and families.

USA.gov

Your School's Virtual Library

Funk and Wagnall's New World Library

Indexes over 25,000 records, covering an array of topics. Entries include various images and brief biographies. Full-text available.

Britannica Online (Library Edition)

Search for information in Encyclopedia Britannica and Britannica Concise Encyclopedia as well as a multimedia database. Full-text available.

Europa World Plus

Access the online version of the Europa World Year Book and the Regional Surveys of the World series. Includes political and economic information for hundreds of countries and territories. Full-text available.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

Access encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Search multiple resources at one time. The reference library includes titles such as Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of American History, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, Something About the Author, and many others. Full-text available.

Grove Dictionary of Art Online

Over 45,000 articles on every aspect of the visual arts from prehistory to the present. Full-text available.

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Comprehensive dictionary of musical scholarship and includes links to musical Web sites around the world. Full-text available.

Hoover's Pro

Provides company and industry information for US and international companies, both public and private, from small to large. Materials indexed include data from Hoover's, Dun & Bradstreet, Mergent and Wegener. Full-text available.

LexisNexis Primary Sources in U.S. History

Access to historical research through the electronic publication of a wide range of primary sources and essential reference information. This suite of Web services provides new opportunities to carry out comprehensive research more easily then ever.

LexisNexis Academic: Newspapers/Current Periodicals

Access to full-text documents from over 6,000 news, business, and legal publications, using a variety of flexible search options.

Political Handbook of the World

Contains country profiles covering natural history, government, political parties, as well as profiles on intergovernmental organizations, development banks, and the agencies and specialized bodies of the United Nations. Full-text available.

ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index™

ProQuest Criminal Justice Periodicals Index™ is a comprehensive database of U.S. and international criminal justice journals. The database provides research support for students interested in careers in criminal justice, law enforcement, corrections administration, drug enforcement, rehabilitation, family law, and industrial security.

ProQuest Literature Online

Students can find explanations, definitions, and contextual material through a cross-searchable reference shelf that incorporates key academic textbooks such as The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms and The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Further bibliographic, biographical, and secondary information sources provide lists of works, author information, and narrative biographies.

ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source™

ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source provides users with reliable health care information covering nursing, allied health, alternative and complementary medicine, and much more.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Provides full-text access to the Oxford English Dictionary online (for a fee). Includes definitions, etymologies, and quotations.

Smithsonian Physical Tables

The ninth revised edition of the Smithsonian Physical Tables is comprised of 901 tables concentrating on a broad scope of common physical and chemical data. The information provided is of general interest to scientists and engineers, and of particular interest to those involved with physics in its larger sense. Full-text available.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Provides access to encyclopedia articles on issues related to the field of philosophy. Full-text available.

World Almanac

Encyclopedia covering American culture, politics, technology, economics, environment and other topics. Entries include facts, statistics, and biographies. Sources include The World Almanac and Book of Facts, The World Almanac of the USA, The World Almanac of US Politics, The World Almanac for Kids, and The World Almanac Knowledge Source. Full-text available.

Related pages:
Virtual Libraries - Information about digital libraries and related resources
Reference Tools - Online dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias and more

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