Diane-Michel.com

Microsoft’s Stephen Lawler gives a whirlwind tour of Virtual Earth, moving up, down and through its hyperreal cityscapes with dazzlingly fluidity, a remarkable feat that requires staggering amounts of data to bring into focus. Google might still be ahead of the game, but even in beta, Virtual Earth shows incredible promise. Microsoft’s visions for the product — as a provider of real-time weather and traffic data, or a realistic backdrop for game developers and IM conversations, or virtual ad space — all seem well within the limits of possibility.

What exactly is Second Life?

Second Life is an Internet based virtual reality world. It made its debut on the World Wide Web in 2003, and was created by Linden Research of San Francisco. Second Life is accessible by anyone running the free downloadable Second Life client onto a personal computer.

Residents exist as virtual “avatars” that move throughout the world known as the grid. Each region of the grid is controlled and created by a network of servers. Communication among residents is primarily achieved through text and instant messaging, and most recently speech. Users may utilize the downloadable client in order to access the grid for free. However premium members can own virtual land from $5.00 per month to $195 for a region. Avatars move about the virtual world by teleporting via landmarks, or using Slurl.com which indexes regional links. Noted educational institutions using Second Life include Harvard, Vassar, Pepperdine, Rice, College of Dublin, New York University, Stanford among others.

Are you a teacher looking to try and understand the potential of Second Life for your own teaching environment?There is atremendous amount of innovation is already underway within the Second Life virtual world. I have found by researching what other top notch institutions are doing is a terrific way to get started in increasing your own understanding.

Pleasefeel free to utilizethe following link list of educational institutionswho arewithin Second Life. Some links contain Slurls, others are links to the universities themselves. If you are an academic institution and would like to be added to this list please email: diane@diane-michel.com

Virtual Campuses and Learning Experiences on Second Life

1. Pathfinder Linden’s hosted space for educators
2. A Ilha Vestibular Brasil
3. WISE: Research platform WISe Environments
4. Aarhus Business College: Aarhus, Denmark
5. Ã…bo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
6. Anglia Ruskin University
7. Arcada University of Applied Sciences: Helsingfors, Finland
8. The Art Institute of California-San Diego San Diego, CA
9. The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA
10. Australian Film TV and Radio School: Sydney, Australia
11. Ball State University: Muncie, IN
12. The Bay School of San Francisco: San Francisco, CA
13. Bentley College – Department of Natural and Applied Sciences:
14. Boise State University, Dept. of EdTech
    Bowling Green State University
15. Bradley University, Peoria, IL– Multimedia Program via NMC and Library on Info Island
16. Bromley College of Further and Higher Education: Greater London, United Kingdom
    Buena Vista University Storm Lake, IA
17. Buffalo State College Buffalo, NY
18. California State University – Pomona: Pomona, CA
19. Central Piedmont Community College – Futures Institute: Charlotte, North Carolina
20. Chapman University: Orange, CA
21. Clemson University: Clemson, South Carolina
22. Cochise College
23. College of Humanities and Social Sciences at
    Montclair State University: Montclair, NJ
24. College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption University
25. Columbia College Chicago: Chicago, IL
26. Columbia University: New York, NY
27. Devry University: Oakbrook, IL
28. Duke University: Durham, NC
29. Drexel University: Philadelphia, PA
30. Dyersburg State Community College: Dyersburg, TN
31. East Tennessee State University: Johnson City, TN
32. Edinburgh University: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
33. Elon University: Elon, NC
34. Empire State College, SUNY: Many locations across NY state and beyond.
35. inger Lakes Community College: Canandaigua, NY
36. Fontys University of Applied Sciences: Netherlands
37. Fullerton College: Fullerton, CA
38. Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture University of Houston: Houston, TX
39. Glendale Community College Glendale AZ
40. Harvard University: Cambridge, Mass.
41. Helicon Opleidingen “Netherlands, land based studies at 11 colleges”
42. Hong Kong Polytechnic University – School of Hotel & Tourism Management
43. Idaho State University: Pocatello, Idaho.
44. Illinois State University: Normal, IL
45. Indiana University: Bloomington, IN
46. Iowa State University: Ames, IA
47. Ithaca College – Roy H. Park School of Communication
48. Johnson & Wales University: Providence, RI & 5 Western States
49. Kalamazoo Valley Community College: Kalamazoo, MI
50. Lancaster University: Lancaster, UK
51. Lawrence University: Appleton, WI
52. Lazarski School of Commerce and Law. Warsaw, Poland
53. Leeds College of Art and Design: West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
54. Leeds Metropolitan University: West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
55. Lehigh Carbon Community College: Schnecksville, PA
56. Mayville State University: Mayville, ND
57. Minneapolis College of Art and Design: Minneapolis, MN
58. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities:
59. Mohawk College: Hamilton, ON, CA
60. Monroe College: Bronx, New York
61. Monroe Community College: Rochester, New York
62. Montana State University: Bozeman, Montana
63. Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP): Singapore
64. National Institute of Education: Singapore
65. Nauset Public Schools: Orleans MA
66. Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology: Nelson, New Zealand
67. New York University – McGhee Division: New York, NY
68. Newcastle University Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
    Northern Illinois University: DeKalb, IL
69. Nova Southeastern University: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
70. Ohio University: Athens, OH
71. Ohio State University: Columbus, OH
72. Oklahoma City University: Oklahoma City, OK
    
73. The Open University: Milton Keynes, UK
74. Oregon State University: Corvallis, OR
75. Otis College of Art and Design: Los Angeles, CA
76. Oxford University: Oxford, UK
77. Pellissippi State Technical Community College: Knoxville, TN
78. Pennsylvania State University: (Various towns), PA
79. PSU College of IST
80. Pepperdine University: Malibu, CA
81. Pforzheim University: Pforzheim, Germany
82. Platt (Media Arts) College San Diego: San Diego, CA
83. Princeton University
84. Queensland University Of Technology
85. Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln
86. San Diego State University: San Diego, Calif.
87. San Jose State University: San Jose, CA
88. San Francisco State University: San Francisco, CA
89. Savannah College of Art & Design: Savannah, GA; Atlanta, GA; Lacoste, France
90. Seton Hall University: South Orange, NJ
91. Sheffield Hallam University: Sheffield, UK
92. Sogang University: Seoul, Korea
93. Stanford University: Palo Alto, CA
94. St. Thomas University: Miami Gardens, FL
95. Swinburne University of Technology: Melbourne, Australia
96. SUNY Empire State College: Saratoga Springs, NY
97. SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, NY
98. Temple University: Philadelphia, PA
99. Texas State Technical College: Waco, Harlingen, Marshal, West Texas
100. Texas State University: San Marcos, Texas
101. Texas Wesleyan University: Fort Worth, Texas
102. The Bay School of San Francisco: San Francisco, CA
103. The University of the Arts: Philadelphia, PA
104. Thomas Jefferson University: Philadelphia, PA
105. Thompson Rivers University: Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
106. Mapping CURA €” a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Grant
107. Towson University: Towson, MD
108. Trinity University: San Antonio, Texas
109. Universitas 21 Global (U21Global): Singapore
110. University College of South Denmark Aabenraa, Denmark
111. University of Advancing Technology Tempe, AZ
112. University of Alaska Anchorage College of Education Anchorage, Alaska
113. University of Alaska Fairbanks Center for Distance Education Fairbanks, Alaska
114. University of Aveiro (Universidade de Aveiro) Aveiro, Portugal
115. University of Bedfordshire
     University of California Berkeley
116. University of Central Missouri: Warrensburg, Missouri
117. University of Cincinnati
     Second Life Wiki
118. University of Colorado at Denver Medical Center: Denver, CO
119. University of Connecticut: Hartford, CT
120. University of Dayton School of Law: Dayton, OH
121. University of Derby: Derby, UK
122. University of Florida: Gainesville, FL
123. University of Georgia: Athens, GA
124. The Center for Teaching & Learning at UGA:
125. University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Communications: Honolulu, HI
126. University of Kansas Medical Center: Kansas City, KS
127. University of Massachusetts: North Dartmouth, MA
128. University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy: Minneapolis, MN
129. University of Missouri – Kansas City: Kansas City, Missouri
130. University of Nevada, Reno: Reno, NV
131. University of New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana
132. University of Oporto(Universidade do Porto) Oporto, Portugal
133. University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
134. University of Paisley: Paisley, Scotland, UK
135. University of Portsmouth: Portsmouth, UK
136. University of Southern California: Los Angeles, CA
137. University of Southern Queensland: Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
138. University of Southern Denmark (Syddansk Universitet): Odense, Kolding, Esbjerg, Sønderborg, Slagelse, København, DK
139. University of Surrey: Guildford, UK
140. University of Sydney: Sydney, Australia
141. University of Tennessee, College of Medicine: Knoxville, Tenn.
142. University of Texas at Austin: Austin, Texas
     University of Texas at Dallas
     http://slurl.com/secondlife/UTD%20SOM/141/70/22/
143. University of Texas Medical Branch: Galveston, Texas
144. University of Sud Toulon-Var (France) “Ingemedia institut, I3m Lab”
145. University of Wales, Newport: Newport, Wales, UK
146. University of Washington: Seattle, WA
147. University School (k-12): Hunting Valley, OH
148. Vassar College: Poughkeepsie, NY
149. Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
150. Virginia Tech: Blacksburg, Virginia

Ever wondered what real time search volume looks like across the globe on Google? Now’s your chance to see it.

>> Google presentation at TED

Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin offer a peek inside the Google machine, sharing tidbits about international search patterns and the philanthropic Google Foundation project (which soon became Google.org).

Sergey Brin and Larry Page invented Google: the technology, the company, the verb. How did their search business, relatively late to the game, come to rule the Web?

The answer might be found in the personalities of the Google founders. Brin and Page met in grad school at Stanford in the mid-’90s, and in 1996 started working on a search technology based on a new idea: that relevant results come from context. Their technology analyzed the number of times a given website was linked to by other sites €” assuming that the more links, the more relevant the site €” and ranked sites accordingly. In 1998, they opened Google in a garage-office in Menlo Park. In 1999 their software left beta and started its steady rise to web domination.

But technology alone doesn’t account for Google’s breakaway success. In fact, Google’s approach to site design and advertising may have been more radical than the technology itself: In an era when search engines were super-saturated with sponsor messages, Google broke the mold with their famously friendly and simple interface. Paid links were clearly identfied; no pop-windows or banner ads were used; the homepage offered little more than their whimsical logo and a single search box. Customers loved it.

Brin and Page’s innovation-friendly office culture (beyond the famous free food, there’s the company’s “20 Percent Time,” which encourages engineers to spend a fifth of their time pursuing whatever projects ignite their interest) has created fertile ground for spectacular successes beyond search, including AdSense/AdWords, Google News, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Gmail. The company’s belief in clean design and ethical ad sales, and its corporate philosophy €” often simply stated as “Don’t be evil” €” continue to set the company apart.

In 2004, Brin and Page launched the company’s philanthropic arm, Google.org, focused on solving worldwide problems relating to poverty, energy and the environment. Google.org Director Larry Brilliant met Brin and Page through TED; his new position was announced at TED2006, just before he accepted his TED Prize.

TED. Perhaps the greatest ideas you’ll ever hear in this lifetime. True visionaries. Be inspired by these tremendous life-changingpioneers.Please visit and share the knowledge.

TED: (Technology, Entertainment & Design)

Enjoy video talks and presentations from some of the brightest minds in the world on a plethora of topics:

A

• Adventure (1)
• Africa (2)
• Aging (1)
• Aids (1)
• Animals (2)
• Architecture (2)
• Art (3)
• Arts (8)
• Asia (1)
• Atheism (1)

B

• Biodiversity (1)
• Biology (6)
• Biotech (1)
• Brain (1)
• Buddhism (1)
• Business (7)

C

• Cancer (1)
• Christianity (1)
• Cities (1)
• Climate change (1)
• Cognitive psych (1)
• Cognitive science (2)
• Collaboration (2)
• Comedy (2)
• Computers (1)
• Creativity (4)
• Culture (10)

D

• Dance (2)
• Death (1)
• Design (13)
• Development (2)

E

• Education (2)
• Entertainment (9)
• Entrepreneur (1)
• Environment (1)
• Evolution (6)

F

• Featured (27)

G

• Genetics (1)
• Genomics (1)
• Global Issues (11)
• God (1)
• Graphic design (1)
• Grassroots (1)
• Green (1)

H

• Happiness (1)
• Health (3)
• History (1)

I

• Immortality (1)
• Industrial design (1)
• Innovation (5)
• Interface design (2)
• Invention (4)
• Investment (1)

L

• Language (1)

M

• Magic (1)

Going to try and create your own LMS, or sort through commercial expensive learning management systems? Suffer no longer. A viable, free open-source platform is available.

Moodle is a software package for producing internet-based courses and web sites. It’s an ongoing development project designed to support a social constructionist framework of education.

Moodle is provided freely as Open Source software (under the GNU Public License). Basically this means Moodle is copyrighted, but that you have additional freedoms. You are allowed to copy, use and modify Moodle provided that you agree to: provide the source to others; not modify or remove the original license and copyrights, and apply this same license to any derivative work. Read the license for full details and please contact the copyright holder directly if you have any questions.

Moodle can be installed on any computer that can run PHP, and can support a SQL type database (for example MySQL). It can be run on Windows and Mac operating systems and many flavors of linux (for example Red Hat or Debian GNU). There are many knowledgable Moodle Partners to assist you, even host your Moodle site.

The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, which is mostly useful to programmers and education theorists. It’s also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. As such it applies both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the way a student or teacher might approach studying or teaching an online course. Anyone who uses Moodle is a Moodler.

The social constructionist learning philosophy is at the heart of Moodle: we all “construct” knowledge through interation with one another and with learning materials in a social way. Moodle E-Learning Course Develelopment will show you how to add static learning material, interactive activities, and social features to your courses so that students reach their learning potential. Whether you want to support traditional class teaching or lecturing, or provide complete online and distance learning courses, this book will prove a powerful resource throughout your use of Moodle.

Here is a nicely done video introducing Moodle.

References

Moodle.org (2007). Welcome to Moodle. Retrieved November 11, 2007 from http://www.moodle.org

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize — much less cultivate — the talents of many brilliant people. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: “If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, please stop whatever you’re doing and watch it now.”

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

Why you should listen to him: Why don’t we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. It’s a message with deep resonance. Robinson’s TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? “Everyone should watch this.”

A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements.

“Ken’s vision and expertise is sought by public and commercial organizations throughout the world.” BBC Radio 4

Visualcomplexity.com

One of the most visually stunning sitesone shall hope to see. The site is produced and maintainedby Manuel Lima who is an interaction designer, information architect and design researcher.Words cannot express the beauty contained within this work.

Complex Networks

Complexity is a challenge by itself. Complex Networks are everywhere. It is a structural and organizational principle that reaches almost every field we can think of, from genes to power systems, from food webs to market shares. Paraphrasing Albert Barabasi, one of the leading researchers in this area, “the mystery of life begins with the intricate web of interactions, integrating the millions of molecules within each organism”. Humans, since their birth, experience the effect of networks every day, from large complex systems like transportation routes and communication networks, to less conscious interactions, common in social networks.

Contained within you shall see information designed and categorized by:

Organizations of Interest for Online Learning

The Sloan Consortium: A Consortium of institutions and organizations committed to quality online education. For some of the highest quality research available within online learning, I highly recommend that you join or stay in touch with this group.

The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs, according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines.

Sloan-C maintains a catalog of degree and certificate programs offered by a wide range of regionally accredited member institutions, consortia, and industry partners; provides speakers and consultants to help institutions learn about online methodologies; hosts conferences and workshops to help implement and improve online programs; publishes the Sloan-C View, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN), and annual volumes of applied research studies; and conducts research, annual surveys on online learning and forums to inform academic, government and private sector audiences. Sloan-C also offers an awards program and an effective practices database and wiki for members to share the lessons they have learned.

You may download the group’s free document here: Sloan Organization: Interactions and Learning.

You are welcometo thefollowing freereference materialscourtesy of the E-Learning guild.

(Thedocuments do have a couple Webex ads within thepdf. However the Guildwas kind enough to share with us these materialsat no cost, so please do take a look.There is useful information within the guidebooks for any online instructor.)

1. The eLearning Guild’s Handbook of e-Learning Strategy
2. eLearning Guild’s Handbook on Synchronous e-Learning
3. 834 Tips for Successful Online Instruction