(via YouTube Testing Feature To Quiz You While You’re Watching A Video | TechCrunch) I literally grinned when I saw this article. This is great timing - our department just launched a YouTube channel at the end of August with over 70 screencasts. I’m excited to think about the opportunities building assessment into our videos can bring. I hope we can test-drive this feature with our own screencasts and that YouTube makes this the humble beginnings of a permanent feature.
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(via YouTube Testing Feature To Quiz You While You’re Watching A Video | TechCrunch)

I literally grinned when I saw this article. This is great timing - our department just launched a YouTube channel at the end of August with over 70 screencasts. I’m excited to think about the opportunities building assessment into our videos can bring. I hope we can test-drive this feature with our own screencasts and that YouTube makes this the humble beginnings of a permanent feature.

Source: TechCrunch

Power Searching with Google

I pretty much missed the boat on Google’s MOOC “Power Searching with Google” when they started offering it the first time. I only got through part of the second class before they cut it off.

Now they’re offering the course again starting this Monday, Sept. 24th, and I will make a better effort to finish all the classes in a timely fashion. From what I’ve seen of it so far, it’s mandatory viewing for students and anyone you know who isn’t an efficient searcher. Even the savvy can pick up some great tips for getting the most out of Google Search. The videos are short, friendly and easy to follow. Spread the word!

Become a Google power searcher

Google is hosting their own 2-week MOOC starting July 10th on how to be a more efficient searcher. The MOOC is going to include social components using Google tools like Hangouts on Air with search experts. Check out the blog post for more info and how to register. I definitely am!

(x-posted from St. Edward’s University Office of Information Technology Google+ Page)

(via What Is the Relationship Between Students and Their Technology? [Infographic] | EdTech Magazine) I usually don’t do more than scan infographics, but this one is worth a closer look. The most interesting parts for me were the tech skills students thought they lacked and how students perceived their instructors’ ability to use tech in the classroom. 
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(via What Is the Relationship Between Students and Their Technology? [Infographic] | EdTech Magazine)

I usually don’t do more than scan infographics, but this one is worth a closer look.

The most interesting parts for me were the tech skills students thought they lacked and how students perceived their instructors’ ability to use tech in the classroom. 

Source: edtechmagazine.com

With higher ed now, people often have a piece or two missing in their education, so we are responding to the changes in our culture and helping them pull all these pieces together,” Mr. Cross said. “Students already interface with a lot of different institutions and different classes and professors, and this will help that process. I don’t think this diminishes traditional higher ed at all. I think it’ll enhance it.

Online Degree Program Lets Students Test Out of What They Already Know

Competency-based “flexible” degree programs are great news for new adult learners and those who never finished their degree. 

Hat tip to Dave Waldron for this and more great edtech links.

Source: chronicle.com

There’s a growing amount of content out there on the Web,” says Koller, “and so the value proposition for the university is no longer simply getting their content out there. Rather, it’s fostering that personal interaction between faculty and students and students and students.

Coursera, the Other Stanford MOOC Startup, Officially Launches with More Poetry Classes, Fewer Robo-Graders

Interesting ideas about student engagement and grading in a MOOC, and an emphasis on considering pedagogy, not just “content delivery”. I can’t wait until Coursera offers their poetry classes!

Source: hackeducation.com

My Profile on Codecademy

So I finished the new web fundamentals section of Codeacademy - there’s a series of lessons called “HTML Fundamentals” and one project based on those lessons. 

I don’t recommend these yet for someone who’s never been introduced to HTML (stick with HTMLdog and School of Webcraft) but I would recommend these as extra practice drills for writing code by hand.

Some of the concepts the Codeacademy lessons teach I do not agree with - we shouldn’t be teaching beginners to force a link to open in a new window or to use the align attribute to position an image.

Starting School of Webcraft’s “Webmaking 101” Challenges

“Explain your reasons for embarking on the Webmaking 101 challenges and some interesting facts about yourself…. It doesn’t have to be a novel, but do try and share some of yourself, your reasons for embarking on the Webmaking 101 challenges and some interesting facts about yourself.”

I’m approaching this course as both a student and a trainer. On top of learning the content, I’m even more interested in how others engage with the course. Here’s why I’m excited about participating in P2PU’s School of Webcraft:

  • Experiencing what it’s like a structured course completely by online correspondence
  • Seeing how others teach the web (I’m always curious to explore others’ methods for teaching web skills to test with the learners I work with)
  • Being a part of Mozilla’s Open Badge project (to be better informed in the event we implement this on our campus)
  • Meeting others who want to learn more about the web; I want to see what participants like and don’t like about learning this way. What concepts do they struggle with? How many finish every challenge?

And for fun, here’s some facts about me and my web experience:

  • We first got a computer in my home in 1996(?). I was in middle school.  I frequented Beanie Babies chat rooms. 
  • I remember for sure we had AOL 3.0.
  • I think my first website was an AOL Hometown site about Sailor Moon. It was beautiful. 
  • My first email address/chat handle was “NeoPrincess21” (see 1st bullet).
  • My first job out of college was for an industry I had never heard of before finding the job listing (search engine optimization). 

Edit: First lesson - P2PU is incredibly slow posting comments during primetime hours (9:30pm CST here). Good to know!

Craft Away: Attending School of Webcraft

vedri:

I was writing a post over at Wordpress when I got a little surprise. On my dashboard was a notice that my Firefox needed updating. I had no idea - there wasn’t the usual notice.

After updating my Firefox, I went to Mozilla’s site and opened up tens of different links which sounded interesting….

Hi Vedri,

I was checking out the “Get a Blog” task on School of Webcraft and found your blog. I read your introductory post, and I’m excited to see a high school student like you committing to a P2PU course. It made me smile when you said “I see web as another way of expressing myself. So I’m giving it a go”. Best of luck, see you around!

Megan

I’m also participating in the School of Webcraft course that’s piloting Mozilla badges - more on this project soon!