Learn to Re-Learn with Fun for School Internet Education.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Tips on social networking with your school-age kids

I am republishing an interesting blog written by Becky Emmett for Malaysian parents here. She is sharing with us ways to connect with our kids in this internet era. Some parents may disagree and still prefer the traditional way of face to face communication. Anyhow, I feel that both ways are as important and are mutually inclusive. Feel free to comment or add more ways you seem necessary :)

BTW, you can also retrieve this full blog from here. Enjoy your reading!
Kids all over the world are back in school now and spending more and more time on their PCs, mobile devices, and cell phones communicating with their friends.
If you’re a parent, you might wonder if you’ll see much of your kids between now and the next summer break. A recent study showed that 93% of teens are online daily and 34% visit the Internet multiple times each day.
Obviously there is no substitute for interacting with your kids face-to-face. I happen to believe that no piece of gadgetry or software or social networking can possibly take the place of meals together or family activities.
But to help parents stay connected with their kids in additional ways, I’ve put together some tips. Do you have other ideas? Please use the comments box below to share your thoughts.
Social networking: I see this as a chance to learn—in a different way—about your child’s life outside of the home. What movies, music, or books are they talking about? Who are their friends? If you haven’t already, you can create your own personal page and share it with your kids. You may have more in common than you thought!
  1. Social networking sites also help teach kids the importance of weighing what you share publicly. Kids should think twice about posting things (or, obviously, doing things!) that would make a parent flip—or scare off a potential boss. Facebook and MySpace are among the most widely used social networking sites.
  2. Texting and instant messaging: LOL, OMG, BRB. Do you know what these acronyms mean? Texting on a cell phone or instant messaging on your PC is an easy way to keep in touch real time–when your student is at the library, in the dorm room, or walking to and from class. Some of the most common text services are AIM and MSN.
  3. Blogging: Set up your own blog. I think this is a great way to let your kids learn more about what you’re thinking about and interested in. You can also suggest a blog to your child. And don’t just read it: Respond. Give feedback. Dispense your friendly parental wisdom. But remember, of course, that blog comments are not always private. To create your own blog, visit www.blogger.com/start or blog.com/.
  4. Micro blogging: Set up a Twitter or Plurk account to give and receive real-time updates in 120 words or less on your PC, cell phone, or mobile Internet device. This can sometimes be quicker and easier than e-mail or a phone call. Twitter, Plurk, and similar services allow instant communication. Most sites let you decide who can receive your updates so you don’t have to share them with the world. To sign up for a Twitter account, visit https://twitter.com/signup. To sign up for a Plurk account, visit www.plurk.com/Users/showRegister.
  5. Home cooking: Is your child cooking for him- or herself for the first time? Give your college student a break from Top Ramen. E-mail or scan recipes, and then post them to your blog, send them via e-mail or enter them onto an online cookbook, such as My Cookbook. To sign up for a My Cookbook account, visit www.mycookbook.com/
  6. Video sharing: If your kids are heading off to college, consider posting your home videos online on sites such as YouTube.com. A variety of video hosting sites are available—just search the Internet to find the site that you prefer. And of course it works both ways—your youngster can post his or her school videos for you to watch. To sign up for a YouTube account, visit www.youtube.com/signup?next=/.
  7. Free calls: Skype is a great deal. It lets you keep in touch with your college student via free PC-to-PC calling. If you both have laptops with webcams, you can see your student and his or her surroundings in real time as you chat. To sign up for a Skype account, visit www.skype.com/welcomeback/.
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Saturday, September 20, 2008

Introducing Intel Education Initiative (IEI)

Intel Education Initiative site brings you very rich technology teaching techniques & resources that you can deploy in your school. I have compiled the site info into presentation slide so that I can share this with teachers when needed. It is a definitely a great site to start with for any school. The material suits students from Primary to Secondary and even into University.

I just want to draw your attention to some of the highlights of teaching materials/methods that deserved your attention, for now.

(1) Thinking tools designed for teachers to use are Visual Ranking (Identify and refine criteria for assigning ranking to a list; and then debate differences, reach consensus, and organize ideas), Seeing Reason (Investigate relationships in complex systems, creating maps that communicate understanding) and Showing Evidence (Construct well-reasoned arguments that are supported by evidence, using a visual framework). These tools lure students of all ages into thinking odyssey when participating in activities that require ranking choices, reasoning with cause and effect mindset and arguing with facts/data. You only need to adjust your topic/theme relevant and suitable to each age groups and the tool is there ready for you and your students. Most importantly, Intel has compiled a good set of examples to kick start your teaching journey.

(2) You will be spoilt with excellent 21st century teaching resources to use like "Designing Effective Projects", "An Innovation Odyssey (contains more than 350 stories of technology enriched projects from classrooms around the world) and "It's a Wild Ride" (an interdisciplinary project uses roller coaster design to engage students in math, science, and language arts).

(3) As a teacher you also find these student learning resources are useful to make you technology literate:
Technology Literacy ›Cultivate technology literacy and digital citizenship for students ages 11-15 with learning that is active, creative, exploratory, and collaborative.
Design and Discovery ›Interest youth in design and engineering with this free curriculum; it provides a hands-on, inquiry-based experience with identifying and designing creative solutions to everyday problems.
The Journey InsideSM ›Take an interactive journey to learn about what is inside your computer.
The Intel manufacturing process ›Resources for your students to learn about the science and process behind the microchips we use every day.
skoool* ›Media-rich resources free to students and teachers in Ireland, the UK, Sweden, Thailand, and Turkey, emphasizing math and science.

(4) Science & Math : It is a must try for teachers specializing in these subjects. Design Squad: An Intel sponsored PBS reality series for kids, parents, and educators. Discover how you can share your real-life excitement of engineering with your community through this program. Design and Discovery: A free curriculum that provides students with a hands-on, inquiry-based experience with identifying and designing creative solutions to everyday problems. Skoool.com : A free online resource designed to help secondary-level students understand and explore key science and mathematics concepts.

If you are still not convinced of the extensiveness of Intel commitment and contribution into education for the world. Check out Higher Education Program & Community Education too.

That's it. Have fun and remember to support Intel by buying their products :) :)

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Saturday, September 13, 2008

Where are the Open Source Courses?

This concept of Open Course is not new and started 6-8 years back in US. Famous university like MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has lead the effort of creating free online courses for everyone 6 years back. Enabling the free learning for those not affordable/qualified to study in these famous oversea universities. It is the open sharing of quality knowledge with the world that is admirable. Open Course concept is pretty similar to Open Source in the software world. And, it is the trend that we Malaysian can embrace and tap into. You do not even need to spend single $ to get your child to learn from the best. Pls catch this Open Course train fast! :)

I manage to scout some Open Course sites for your reference. Use them wisely! Share with anyone you know!



(1) MIT Open Courseware (OCW) :

First OCW site that I use many years back. I like the vision of "Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds". It is so touching, holy and admirable. Letting everyone to access freely to MIT IP. I can't believe it when I first encounter with this site recently!

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. They disclaims the followings:

  • OCW is not an MIT education.
  • OCW does not grant degrees or certificates.
  • OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty.
  • Materials may not reflect entire content of the course.

Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required. MIT OCW contains University and High School courses. High School courses cover Biology, Chemistry, Computers and Electronics, Engineering, Foreign Languages, Math, Media, Music and The Arts, Physical Education, Physics and Social Sciences and Writing and Literature. As for University courses, it consists of standard univerisity classes in departments like Architecture, Engineering, Science, Art, Management, etc. It has total 1800 courses and still growing. You can find each course's Syllabus, Calendar, Lecture Notes, Assignments, Exams, Vidoe Lectures and Course Material just like attending classroom training.

One key strength of this open course is that the lectures/trainers are very experience expert in their own field and well known around the globe. The course material is FREE and of highest standard. What else can we ask for?

You need to dowload Real Player & Adobe Reader to access to its course material. Have fun.

Other University OCW URL available at OCW Consortium

(2) Open Stanford on iTunes University

Standard iTunes University's vision is Stanford to go. In your home, In your car. In your pocket. Bring the learning experience to your convenience, anytime anywhere. COOL!

This Open Course is Stanford University pilot project with Apple, beginning in the spring of 2004, to deliver supplemental course content to registered students using iTunes. They realized that the same platform would be an elegant and cost-effective way to deliver Stanford content to alumni and the public as well. The project has proven to be a great fit between Stanford and Apple. Apple provides Standford with an intuitive and broadscale method for distribution, as well as the storage and bandwidth for our content. Standford focus on the content quality.

Standford not only covers standard U classes from department like Science and Technology, Arts and Humanities, Business, Law and Politics, Communication and Media, Health and Medicine, etc., it provides essential university info like Campus Life, Travel study, What's new and etc.. It is a real U on iTune.

Standford courses give you a different perspective in learning. You can choose to listen to it or view it or read the pdf presentation file. You can download them to your iTune player to play them anytime anywhere you like. They skip the detail traditional university curriculum study which emphasizes on curriculum, assignment, reference, exam and etc.. Pretty cool concept of giving the learning pleasure back to the student. Standford is working on Podcast subscription model now so that downloading the course material can be automatic, making the learning a breeze.

You need to download Apple iTune software to access to its course material. Have fun.

(3) Open Learning Initiative by Carnegie Mellon University
CMU called its OCW as Open learning. It does not register to OCW Consortium. I therefore mention it here as a separate university effort. OLI focuses on science, maths, statistic and engineering courses. The site UI is intuative, virtual lab for chemical class is unique and fun, Statistics course comes with StatTutor tool supporting your statistical problem solving, many more special course features enhancing your online learning experience. This site is worth take a look!

Accessing the site is pretty much web based but you may need to download QuickTime software to access some of its multimedia material.

(4) Open Yale Courses (just cut the introduction note from site....will add more comment if possible later :))

Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.
Open Yale Courses reflects the values of a liberal arts education. Yale's philosophy of teaching and learning begins with the aim of training a broadly based, highly disciplined intellect without specifying in advance how that intellect will be used. This approach goes beyond the acquisition of facts and concepts to cultivate skills and habits of rigorous, independent thought: the ability to analyze, to ask the next question, and to begin the search for an answer.
We hope the lectures and other course materials on this site will be a resource for critical thinking, creative imagination, and intellectual exploration. All lectures were recorded in the Yale College classroom and are available in video, audio, and text transcript format. Registration is not required and no course credit is available.


Final Note:
So far only encounter a few different OCW presentations & approaches sites, will add more as I come across new and interesting OCW in the future. If you happen to know others, do let me know. Hope you enjoy this collection for you.

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