Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Apps & Extensions #1

Best Study Apps, Tools, Tips, & Techniques

From OpenColleges (you will like the interactivity on that page)


"Although productivity apps can certainly be useful in many cases, keep in mind that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Choose your apps carefully and make sure that each one will actually help you rather than serve as yet another distraction."

How to be Effective when Studying – Best Study Apps, Tools, Tips & Techniques by Open Colleges

The Educational Technology Pedagogy Wheel

These thoughts really jumped out at me in this article, so much so that I just had to pass it along:
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Many of the failures in #edtech are failures in #edtech integration… Seeing the pieces–tablets, apps, learning goals, cognitive actions, etc.–and how they work together is everything. Without that vision, any bit of #edtech is limp and lifeless.

An example?

Google Drive in and of itself is neither good nor bad.

Google Drive in service of a task previously unattainable without it, attended to by an engaged student, where said student is using a spreadsheet to classify mammal behavior with a student in another school as part of a presentation to a local wildlife preserve as the culminating task in a project-based learning unit on animal ecology?

That’s something else altogether.
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Let's fight the urge to reflexively assume that educational technology is usually or mostly just about getting to tinker with cool apps and gizmos. Maybe an occasional tool could take the learning and retention in your course to a whole new level, if you just give it a chance. Be the lifelong learner you encourage your students to be by setting the example and exploring new ways to implement technology toward their learning, retention, and overall success… like those who taught you did.

Monday, December 15, 2014

The Future of Gmail?

PSST: Want sneak peek of Gmail's future?


Ok, it's not confirmed that Gmail will inherit Inbox's interface, but it is interesting to imagine, huh?

Monday, December 8, 2014

LBCC Moodle Course Auto-Enroll Procedures

We tell instructors that it only takes a minute or two to enable auto-enrollment for their Moodle course(s), and here is how you can make that true for yourself (so you might want to bookmark this page).

All you have to do to enable Auto-Enrollment for your students is go to your course shell settings area…


… and input your CRN in the "CRN" field. Make sure there are only 5 digits in that field, and that it's the correct CRN:



Make sure to save changes at the bottom!

That's it - within about an hour or less, all students registered for your CRN(s) will be enrolled in your Moodle course!

IMPORTANT: If you are enrolling more than one CRN (section) into a single Moodle course shell, you need to 
input ONLY the lowest-numerical CRN in your Moodle course settings, and input each CRN into the Multiple-Enrollment CRN form (it simply ties all of the CRNs together for auto-enrollment purposes). Just like you tell your students, be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully!

NOTE: Setting up Auto-Enroll in your Moodle course is separate from making the course available to students. Don't forget to make your course available to them when you are ready!