Google Apps for Education vs Microsoft’s Live@edu

October 5, 2009

The second part of our look at the free online apps for education from these kingpins of the software industry.
One of the first things that struck me about Google’s “Education Edition” of Google Apps was that their informational pages seemed a lot less cluttered than Microsoft’s. You get a cleaner, more precise overview, and while there is some depth to the information and links provided, I didn’t find myself with the sensation I had on the Microsoft Live@edu pages, where I was quickly lost, clicking from link to link across a seemingly endless set of pages, link, goofy videos, etc. The functionality available in Google’s Apps for Education were easy to learn about.

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Immersive Technologies and the Future of Education

September 30, 2009

This week’s “midweek update” introduces this potential player in the technological future of education.
I was quite intriqued by this article in the latest (Sept 2009) Campus Technology magazine, titled “Best of Both Worlds”. This article discusses the use of Immersive Technologies in Education. Immersive Technologies include things like simulations, virtual reality, and augmented reality. Second Life and many gaming systems incorporate immersive technologies.

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Microsoft’s Live@edu versus Google Apps for Education

September 28, 2009

What free tools are these giants of the software industry providing to Education?

Both Microsoft and Google offer an evolving set of free online tools specifically for the education community. This week and next we’ll take a brief look at these offerings. I imagine we’ll find a good deal to like about both sets of applications, given the price and ease of a hosted (i.e. Internet based) tool set. Before starting I should add that Microsoft and Google are certainly not the only providers of free applications for education - in a brief look at collaboration tools back May I discussed a similar app suite from Zoho, but since Microsoft and Google are such behemoths of the software industry, there is particular interest in what they have to offer and how these offerings compare.

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Education Technology - Don’t Lean On It, Leverage It (Repost)

September 23, 2009

Forgive me for repeating myself, but I feel a certain passion for this recent post, and I don’t think it got a fair deal, being posted on a holiday (Labor Day), and at the beginning of a week where many of us were swamped with the start of a new school year. For this week’s “midweek update” I am promoting my post “Education Technology - Don’t Lean It, Leverage It!” from earlier this month. Please click through and give the first paragraph or two a quick read - I hope this will interest you enough to read further, and to also pass it on to a colleague if you think it can make an impact and encourage someone to give education technology a try in the classroom. Thanks!

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10 Free Educational Game Sites

September 20, 2009

These free sites provide students an opportunity to learn in a fun, interactive environment.

I searched out and visited a bunch of sites with free educational games and selected the ten I thought were most useful and appropriate to education. In addition to a brief overview of each site, I have also attempted to define the grade range these sites are applicable to - I made my own judgement for most sites since it often wasn’t indicated therer (feel free to weigh in if you think I’m off target on any of these). Most of these sites are geared towards K-12 (with many leaning towards K-6 or so), but some do have fun games that will challenge the Higher Ed student and adults as well. Take one for a spin today!

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Telepresence (this is just too cool!)

September 16, 2009

Educause’s recent ’7 things you should know about …’ brief on Telepresence is fascinating. “Beam me into that classroom, Mr. Scott!” It’s kind of hard to believe that this technology may become relatively commonplace before long. Telepresence currently requires expensive sophisticated equipment, but like most technology it will become more affordable over time. It is entirely feasible that in the next [...]

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Survey Results - What Internet technologies will your peers be introducing in the classroom this year?

September 13, 2009

Online documents, blogs, and wikis rise to the top of survey responses, followed closely by video and podcasting technologies. First, thank you to everyone who participated in our brief survey over the last few weeks. The survey asked “What types of Internet technologies would you like to try … in the classroom for the first time this fall?” [...]

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The Foundation for Excellence in Education

September 9, 2009

Are you aware of this organization and it’s work? The Foundation for Excellence in Education was founded by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in 2007. I was impressed by their work when I learned about them a few months ago after viewing Jeb Bush’s interview on Technology in Education (below). As it states on the About page [...]

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Education Technology - Don’t Lean On It, Leverage It!

September 7, 2009

Are you using Internet tools to engage students in the classroom and improve learning outcomes, or are you just using technology to decrease the time you need to spend lecturing and interacting with your students?

There are many great internet based tools available to bring new elements of collaboration, interaction, and even a little fun to the instructional process and thereby better engage and motivate your students and enhance learning outcomes. Of course, it is also entirely possible to use technology as a crutch or a “baby sitter”, but this is a rather unfortunate use of these tools and can give education technology a bad name.

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Will you be introducing new Internet technologies in the classroom this year?

September 2, 2009

Brief survey aims to uncover which Internet tools educators are considering for the classroom Last week’s midweek update sent readers to a survey to answer this question, but response has been slow (didn’t get it out there until Thurs eve, which surely didn’t help). So, I am asking again if readers would be so kind as to click here and [...]

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