E-Learning+Tools

==Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has highlighted the 'Digital Education Revolution' as core business for the new government.== The aim of the program is to contribute sustainable and meaningful change to teaching and learning in Australian schools that will prepare students for further education, training, jobs of the future and to live and work in a digital world.' Source - http://www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au/default.htm

=**WHICH TOOLS?**=

**It all depends on what you are teaching and what you want your students to do. Elearning tools need to be chosen according to your students' learning styles. The following website will give you an overview of tools available: http://designing.flexiblelearning.net.au/

More information on choosing resources http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/Resources/index.html**

=Specific tools for specific needs:=

How to create a webpage
A website is one or more pages of text, images, video, links which is connected to the World Wide Web. To create a website you must have a domain name, website and webhost. Most of the bigger educational facilites will provide you with access to their webhost for website creation. They also normally provide assistance with set-up or online help. [|Beginners! Create a Website] - A guide for beginners, not dedicated to educators, but has some interesting points for beginners [|How to Create a Website] - Not the most dynamic of speakers, but this video is a good step, by step guide for beginners [|Using cool websites in Education] - Creating imaginary places and free software ideasUsing cool websites in education [|Weebly] - Create a free website and a free blog [|Freewebs] - Free website, hosting or webpage [|Sites for Teachers] - Educational Websites rated by popularity

How to create a wiki
====A wiki is a website that allows users to easily create, edit, link and rearrange information. You may design one individually or collaboratively and allow for external parties to be able to edit contained material, or place security lockouts to prevent this.====

[|Click here for a video on how to make a teaching wikispace]
[|Click here for PBWiki tutorials] including discussions of interactivity,security, how to create wikis etc

Social Bookmarking
====Social bookmarking is a wonderful way to collect all your favourite websites in one place. You will be able to keep track of your articles because of the tag words that help you navigate around the site. Besides, this website is accessible to other educators as well - so the networking goes on and on..!====

[|More pictures]
For more graphics check out the **Getting Started** option in the menu on the left.

Why use an online quiz?

 * It can be usitised in a number of ways - both formative and summative
 * it can be used as a informal evaluation of the students understanding of the topic and provides feedback for correct and incorrect answers.
 * It can be managed as an assessment tool, with the number of attempts at questions, the length of time available to complete the quiz, and an computer controlled marking system
 * The appearance and timing, and statistical data reporting of the quizzes can be managed and altered.
 * Most of the big Learning Management Systems have a quiz option already available

How to design a quiz
http://www.easytestmaker.com/user/default.aspx - provides a free software package to formulate quizzes

Online educational games
Evaluation shows that educational games can be very motivating while retaining or even improving the educational effects on students. Moreover, one important finding of the study was that the educational effectiveness of the game was particularly high for students who used to have poor performance in the domain taught prior to their learning experience with the game (Viryou et. al., 2005) Here are some links to have a look (and play) with. [|Just for fun] - see how stressful being a cyber librarian is [|ChicktionarySpot] - The scrabble of the henhouse (and more) [|Wordsplay] - Online word game that can be played by teams or individuals - successor page to 'Weboggle" [|Funbrain] - online educational games for kids of all ages. (math, grammar, science, spell, history)

How to create a classroom blog
A relatively new tool that has quickly gained traction for use in education is the Blog. The term is a amalgamation of the terms Web and log. "Thousands of teachers have discoverd the value of classroom blogging, both as an avenue for their communicatinos, but also as a tool for giving voice to what their students are learning and how they are learning" (Warlick, D. 2007) Blogs are very useful for allowing discussion and inviting feedback on topics. Creating a classroom blog [|How to start designing a blog] – from a teacher 5mins [|Top 10 reasons to use blogs in the classroom] – from the horses mouth, why to use blogs (American - 5 mins) [|Blogs in plain English] - what are blogs (American - 3 mins) [|Disscussion of Blogs in Education] – information on blogs in education (American - 10mins) [|The Staff Experience] – the staff experience (from the UK) 5min [|Both staff and student perspectives on blogging] - American 5 mins

Creating a Podcast
Creating podcasts can be very easy. Audio and video will be the future of online publishing, so get a head start. The easiest way to create a podcast is to use one of the free automatic podcast creation sites such as Odeon [|www.odeo.com] or Podomatic [|www.podomatic.com] Here are the steps you need to follow to be able to create a podcast at one of these sites: These sites really take the hard work out of podcasting, and mean you do not have to bother with finding server space or setting up an RSS feed. Without a doubt, it is the quickest and best way to start, and means you can concentrate on the content of your podcast rather than technical aspects.
 * The Easy Way!**
 * First, register for an account. You'll need to provide a //username//, //password// and //email address//.
 * Next, check the confirmation email and click on the link. This will take you to your new podcasting homepage.
 * From here, you only need to click on one or two buttons ('//Record Audio//' at Odeo, and '//Post Episode//' at Podomatic) to record straight from your browser.
 * Afterwards, your audio is automatically published as a podcast.

How to take your students on a virtual field trip
Virtual field trips allow the students to engage with the information in a more interactive and engaging way than reading about places or people in books. A few websites to try; [|Internet4Classrooms] - A resource explaining why, how to and giving a collection of links [|Virtual Field Trips] - Links provided to a number of virtual field trips (eg African animals, Antarctica and the White House)

Downloading educational materials on to iPods
The benefits of using mobile technologies in education include greater efficiencies and effectiveness in learning, increased individual support and opportunities for personal development, better methods of collaborating and communicating and greater exposure to technology. (Eschenbrenner and Nah, 2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3O-mVhB-_U - Utilising iPods in education http://storynory.com/ - Free audio stories for children

Ever wondered what an RSS feed is?
The following clip will give you a plain English version of the advantages of an RSS feed. - [|RSS in Plain English]. [|Click here to learn how to set up a cyber classroom]

Discussion forums
====A discussion is often an important part of learning and reflecting on the learning. Discussion forums are an ideal way of making your students research a topic and put down their ideaas. In language teaching you could use it for error correction. It is also a way of getting shy students to participate in class. To find out how to use onlie discussion forums, check out this website:====

Webquests
====Webquests are online projects done on a particular theme, individually or as a group. They are absolutely intereactive as students have to perform tasks which are outlined in the webquests. There are plenty of resources given in the webquests to help them on their way. Finally, there are rubrics that the educators could use to evaluate the students' performance.To find out more about webquests click on the link below:====

http://www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm accessed 12thApril 2008
http://webquest.org/index-resources.php accessed 19th April 2008 [|**http://www.e-learningcentre.co.uk/eclipse/Resources/index.html**] accessed 12th April 2008 http://odlaa.une.edu.au/publications/2003Proceedings/pdfs/nichols.pdf accessed 12th April 2008 [|http://www.free-picture-graphic.org.uk] Accessed 12th April 2008 http://www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm Accessed 12th April 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x66lV7GOcNU Accesssed 12th April 2008

Digital Education Revolution. Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Australian Government (n.d.) Retrieved April 19, 2008 from http://www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au/default.htm

Drandyoliver. Blogging – The Staff Experience. (2007) Retrieved April 16, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PIiizu4yVg&feature=related    EasyTestMaker (n.d.) The easy way to make your tests!. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from http://www.easytestmaker.com/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fuser%2fdefault.aspx   Educators/PBwiki educator videos (2008) Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://educators.pbwiki.com/PBwiki%20educator%20videos   Eschenbrenner, B. & Fui-Hoon Nah, F. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation (IJMLO), Vol. 1, No. 2, 2007  Fitterman, How to Create a Website (2007) Retrieved April 19, 2008 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d76PlbaeRZM&feature=related

Freewebs (2008) Retrieved April 19, 2008 from http://members.freewebs.com/

Funbrain. (n.d.) Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://www.funbrain.com/    Jillysmommy. Blogging in the classroom. (2007). Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAestYcLww&feature=related    Jnxyx. iPod in Education – video overview pt1. (2007)Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3O-mVhB-_U   <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Welcome to EduWikis. Educational Wikis. (2008). Retrieved April 10, 2008, from http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/ <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Mysterbee06. Intro to Class Wiki with Wikispaces 1. (2006). Retrieved April 5, 2008, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NRbbskf3cA <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Keithpeterb. Class blog – third attempt. (2008) Retrieved April 12, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNvTBmSw5w </span]> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Leelefever. Blogs in Plain English.(2007) Retrieved April 11, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=related </span]> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Lightning Librarian. Zeek. (2008). Retrieved April 11, 2008, from http://games.zeeks.com/lightning-librarian-10031/?page=play&trnstl=1 <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Lisa3876. Beginners! Create a Website (2007). Retrieved April 19, 2008, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTHc5wB-u8w

Odeo. (2008) Retrieved April 6, 2008, from [|http://odeo.com/ </span]> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> PalmBreezeCAFE. Blogs in Education. (2007). Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7XiCg_wpzE </span]> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)">                 <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> PalmBreezeCAFE. Using Cool Websites in Education. (2008). Retrieved April 19, 2008, from                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHIg9a3KQPU <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Podomatic. Create, Find, Share Podcasts! (2008). Retrieved April 2, 2008, from [|http://www.podomatic.com/ </span]> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Puzzles. Live Search. (2008) Retrieved April 6, 2008, from [|http://puzzles.ninemsn.com.au/?ocid=TXT_MSNTD_0001_MSN_ChicktionarySpot </span]> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Sites for Teachers. (2008) Retrieved April 19, 2008, from http://www.sitesforteachers.com/

Storynory Kids Audio Stories (n.d.) Retrieved April 10, 2008, from http://storynory.com/ <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> Supershona. Top 10 Reason’s to Use a Blog in the Classroom. (2008). Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfJETK3am1M&feature=related </span]>

Warlick, D. Classroom Blogging (2nd Edition). (2007). Retrieved April 8, 2008 from http://classblogmeister.com/ <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> WordSplay: A Word-Building Game. Microsoft Internet Explorer. (2008) Retrieved April 10, 2008, from [|http://www.wordsplay.net/ </span]>

Virtual Field Trips (n.d.) Retrieved 16 April, 2008, from http://campus.fortunecity.com/newton/40/field.html

Virtual Field Trips. Internet4Classrooms (2008) Retrieved 16 April, 2008 from http://www.internet4classrooms.com/vft.htm

Virou, M., Katsionis, G., Manos, K. (2005) Combining Software Games with Education: Evaluation of its Educational Effectiveness. Educational Technology & Society, 8 (2), 54.