How to Learn Online

How to learn online? Find out how online learning is different to classroom learning, and how you can learn more effectively.

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Brazilian chief uses technology to help save his tribe and curb deforestation

Almir Surui once hunted with a bow and arrow. He now uses technology in bid to save pristine land.

He can still handle a bow. But Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui says his weapon of choice is technology: Android phones to monitor illegal logging, hand-held Global Positioning System devices to map territory and Google Earth Outreach to show the world what a well-managed forest looks like.
Wielding the tools of the 21st century, the 1,300-member tribe has delved into a complex scheme in which governments or companies pay for forest preservation, contributing to a system that, if fully realized, would help end large-scale deforestation. By determining how much carbon is prevented from being released if the trees on Surui lands are left standing, the tribe hopes to sell carbon credits internationally to offset greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries.

Read more at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/brazilian-chief-uses-technology-to-help-save-his-tribe-and-curb-deforestation/2013/03/26/097b9338-84e7-11e2-a80b-3edc779b676f_story.html

The Teachers and the Use of ICT For Professional Development

In this age of rapid change and uncertainty, there is one thing which is very paramount and pertinent to know-teachers will need to adapt to change if they are to be relevant, survive and keep pace with new methods and technologies. The area of most rapid change is that of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). Therefore this paper investigates how teachers use ICT for their professional development. One of the questions being asked by many teachers is: What will be the long term impact of the introduction of these technologies into the classroom? Other questions are being raised are: What kind of skills will teachers need to acquire in order to be effective in an ICT based learning environment? How does ICT impact professional development?

Read more at: http://zunia.org/post/the-teachers-and-the-use-of-ict-for-professional-development

Melinda Gates: Tech's Responsibility to the Developing World

Following the TEDxChange event last week, Melinda Gates explains why the tech sector has a responsibility to foster change in developing nations.

Melinda Gates is no stranger to technology. After working at Microsoft in various roles for nine years, she understands tech, specifically, how it can help people overcome obstacles, disrupt the status quo and make room for global progress.
Gates is also a social good pioneer. Philanthropist, businesswoman and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she has spearheaded efforts to improve health and development around the world.

Read more at: http://mashable.com/2013/04/09/melinda-gates-positive-disruption/

April 8, 2013: Teaching and Learning Weekly is out

Teaching and Learning Weekly, by Adam Atodl: a free online newspaper with a curated selection of articles, blog posts, videos and photos about teaching and learning - for students and teachers.

Read and subscribe free at: http://paper.li/f-1328546324

Web 2.0 Online Software in Online and Distance Learning

Find out more about some of the important movements in the development of Web 2.0 online communication software or e-tools that have impacted on, and continue to impact on, how individuals and communities communicate and learn.

Read more at: http://onlineanddistancelearning.com/web-2-0-online

UNESCO launches a new generic and open source Education Management Information System

UNESCO launched a new version of OpenEMIS, a generic and open source Education Management information System (EMIS) software package issued without conditions or restrictions for use by countries.
Able to run offline on desktop computers or on the web and on mobile devises, OpenEMIS facilitates the collection, processing, analysis and supports the dissemination of data on education systems. It is a tool conceived to be easily and quickly adapted to the needs of information producers and users at national and sub-national levels.

Read more at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/openemis_v2_unesco_launches_a_new_generic_and_open_source_education_management_information_system_emis/back/18256/

Mobile Phones and Gender Inequality: Can We Hear Her Now?

While the growth of mobile phones is undeniably impressive, when we look at issues more closely, mobile phones are far from being the panacea that some purport it to be. This master thesis [PDF] by Kari Mackey adds to a literature that examines the relationship between mobile phones and gender inequality.

Read more at: http://democracyspot.net/2013/04/06/mobile-phones-and-gender-inequality-can-we-hear-her-now/

Find Out About Teaching Online

Innovations in ICT and the possibilities opened up by teaching online, are enabling exciting classroom activities to be developed at all levels of children's education (elementary to grade 12).
Find out about the range of Internet technologies available for teaching online and enabling exciting online classroom activities to be developed at all levels.

Read more at: http://onlineanddistancelearning.com/teaching-online

3 Ways MOOCs Unleash the Power of Massive International Attendance

So far the immediate effect caused by MOOCs on those of us growing up far from prominent universities is the opportunity to access quality education to complement “traditional” education one might be receiving locally. If you have participated in any MOOC, you might agree or not about the delivery or evaluation method or question its effectiveness, but you cannot deny the quality of most of them.
But from my point of view it is the massive attendance to the course the most relevant and interesting characteristic for analysis.

Read more at: https://edutechdebate.org/massive-open-online-courses/3-ways-moocs-unleash-the-power-of-massive-international-attendance/