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Census: More than 54 million disabled in U.S. - Health care- msnbc.com
Census: More than 54 million disabled in U.S. - Health care- msnbc.com
US Census statistics on disabilities. If almost 20% of the population has some sort of disability, isn't that significant enough for us to take accessibility into consideration when developing online learning? If you want stats to justify why accessibility matters, this is a good place to start.
More than 54 million U.S. residents, or about 19 percent of the population, have some sort of disability, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
·msnbc.msn.com·
Census: More than 54 million disabled in U.S. - Health care- msnbc.com
Sakai 3 Proposal
Sakai 3 Proposal

Vision for what Sakai could look like in the future. The authors envision an LMS based on widgets with lots of flexibility, social networking, and content creation tools. The proposed changes to the organization (doing away with sites) would make Sakai much more flexible outside of a traditional academic course environment. The ability to have groups persist outside of courses would allow cohorts to be part of a group together, which creates some interesting possibilities.

"In summary, our ambition is not merely an incremental improvement of Sakai nor is it to copy Google. Our goal is not simply to create a better and cheaper version of Blackboard. It is time to arrive at a clearer understanding of the capabilities that represent needs unique to education and for the Sakai community to focus its development effort on providing these capabilities while taking advantage of established open‐source efforts to provide more generic capabilities. We should, in short, strive to create a different type of academic collaboration system."

·mkorcuska.files.wordpress.com·
Sakai 3 Proposal
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
Press release on the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, with links to more information. "WCAG at a Glance" is a quick overview of the standards, but probably only helpful if you're already somewhat familiar with online accessibility.
<p>WCAG 2.0 explains how to make content:</p> <ul> <li>Perceivable (for instance by addressing text alternatives for images, captions for audio, adaptability of presentation, and color contrast); </li> <li>Operable (by addressing keyboard access, color contrast, timing of input, seizure avoidance, and navigability); </li> <li>Understandable (by addressing readability, predictability, and input assistance); and </li> <li>Robust (for instance by addressing compatibility with assistive technologies).</li></ul>
·w3.org·
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone
SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone
Ira Socol's "Toolbelt Theory," the idea that we all need tools to help us survive in the the world, and every individual needs a different set of tools. The is a broader idea than just accessibility; it's about giving all learners control of their own tools to find what works best for them.
How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say?
The thing about toolbelts though, is that no two people ever really need the same one.
So the trick to tool use is to learn to evaluate tasks and environments and your skills and the tools themselves as they change and determine what works best for you. I call this the "TEST" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>ask - <span style="font-weight: bold;">E</span>nvironment - <span style="font-weight: bold;">S</span>kills - <span style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>ools, a specifically ordered reframing of <a href="http://sweb.uky.edu/%7Ejszaba0/JoyZabala.html">Joy Zabala</a>'s "<a href="http://www.ode.state.or.us/initiatives/elearning/nasdse/settintrogeneric2005.pdf">SETT</a>" protocol. A specifically ordered reframing designed for self-determination.
And on top of this, the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.
The only way to allow students to assemble this essential toolbelt for information and communication is to to throw open your classroom and let the world in. How will your students know which calendar works for them - the one on their phone, Google Calendar with SMS appointment texting, Microsoft Outlook, or any of a dozen paper systems unless you allow them to try them out?
·speedchange.blogspot.com·
SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone
Blogging as Reflective Practice | Adventures in Corporate Education
Blogging as Reflective Practice | Adventures in Corporate Education
Thoughts on blogging as reflective practice for learning, with benefits in both the activity of writing and the social connections
So basically when you blog, you have to think about what you have read, how that compares to what you already know or what you have experienced, and that comparison helps you to construct new mental models that you articulate in written form (your blog).
·gminks.edublogs.org·
Blogging as Reflective Practice | Adventures in Corporate Education
NSSE 2008 Results
NSSE 2008 Results
Results from the National Survey of Student Engagement. The full report has limited information about online learning, but does include results showing that students in online courses report more deep learning, intellectual challenge, and reflection than those in face-to-face courses.
·nsse.iub.edu·
NSSE 2008 Results
Top News - Report challenges online-learning assumptions
Top News - Report challenges online-learning assumptions
Results of a study showing deeper learning in online courses than face-to-face ones
<p>Some critics of distance learning say face-to-face classes give students a better learning environment, but a recent Indiana University study found that online learners reported deeper approaches to learning than classroom-based learners.</p> <p>Deep learning, researchers said,&nbsp;is a type of learning that goes beyond rote memorization and focuses on reflection, integrative learning, and higher-order thinking--analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.</p>
According to the survey results, 37 percent of first-year online learners and 45 percent of seniors said they participated in course activities that challenged them intellectually "very often," compared to only 24 percent of first-year classroom-based learners and 35 percent of seniors. The survey also found that online learners reported slightly more deep approaches to learning in their coursework.
Survey results showed that 58 percent of first-year students taking most of their classes online reported using higher-order thinking in their coursework, compared to 55 percent of classroom-based learners. Results also showed that 69 percent of first-year students taking most of their classes online reported using integrative thinking in their coursework, compared to 67 percent of classroom-based learners. Additionally, 62 percent of first-year students taking most of their classes online reported using reflective learning in their coursework, compared to 59 percent of classroom-based learners.
·eschoolnews.com·
Top News - Report challenges online-learning assumptions
The Bamboo Project Blog: Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event
The Bamboo Project Blog: Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event
Michele Martin debriefs the experience of teaching the Work Literacy online course via Ning. Several things they did were very successful. Ning was a good platform, even though it's intended as a social networking tool rather than a CMS. Explicitly saying that different levels of participation were acceptable meant that lurkers felt comfortable dipping in and out as legitimate perispheral participants. Was the course a success? It sounds like they all learned from the experience; to me, that means it's a success even if some aspects didn't work as they hoped.
·michelemartin.typepad.com·
The Bamboo Project Blog: Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event
In the Middle of the Curve: Deeper Instructional Design
In the Middle of the Curve: Deeper Instructional Design
Wendy Wickham's liveblogged notes from Clark Quinn's presentation on Deeper Instructional Design. Lots of ideas in this post--create models that actually help people understand the content and recognize patterns, pay attention to motivation and emotion, give learners the least they need to get them to do what's needed, create learner-centered objectives instead of designer-centered objectives, use stories and active practice.
We can't "create" learning<br>- We can design environments conducive to learning.<br>- We design learning experiences.
Don't design CONTENT, design EXPERIENCES<br>- Design the "Flow".<br>- Start bringing in emotions and the actions they take
·in-the-middle-of-the-curve.blogspot.com·
In the Middle of the Curve: Deeper Instructional Design
CCK08: How to Profit off of Open Source, Or at least pay the Bills « Bradleyshoebottom’s Weblog
CCK08: How to Profit off of Open Source, Or at least pay the Bills « Bradleyshoebottom’s Weblog
Building on ideas from Stephen Downes on different models for sustainable open source work, this provides specific examples of how open source could benefit a complex industry like telecommunications and benefit that corporate environment.
Now how do you make this open source and still pay the bills. One way would be to make the training content truly open like MIT. To recover costs, the manufacture or the training provider could charge for certification exam, access to mentors, discussion groups, and access the training equipment. So if certification credentials are import to the customer, then this model works.
or example, I have already explained how the customer can build dynamic content around their features, but a customer could also using Wiki-like features, go in and upload their system schematics, photos, maps, or IP addresses and then have the content repository publish a unique document for the requestor. The automotive industry is already moving in this direction creating unique user manuals for each customer based on the features selected at the time of purchase.
·bradleyshoebottom.wordpress.com·
CCK08: How to Profit off of Open Source, Or at least pay the Bills « Bradleyshoebottom’s Weblog