Category Archives: Featured
An Open Letter to the US Copyright Office in Defense of Jailbreaking
Dear Copyright Office— I would like to register my support for the practice of jailbreaking of smartphones, tablets, and game systems on the principle that these devices are fully-functional computers and should not have their functionality crippled to promote … Continue reading
Posted in Featured, TeacherHax, Web 2.0
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Who Needs Gamification?! Student-Centered Lesson Design Using Just Your LMS
2011 brought us the buzzword craze of “gamification” in education, or the quest to make learning online more like a video game. Inspired by FourSquare‘s achievement badges as a way of motivating users to check in to location-based services and … Continue reading
Open Source or Proprietary LMS? Your Answer, My Friend, Is Floating In the Cloud
A colleague recently asked me if I could explain the distinction between open source and proprietary learning management systems, especially as it might affect a K-12 school looking at the best kind of LMS to implement today. She wanted to … Continue reading
Posted in EdTech, Featured
Tagged blackboard, edtech, education, Engrade, google apps, Higher education, k-12, Learning management system, lms, moodle, MoodleRooms, open source
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Google Plus Puts the Social in Learning with Google Apps for Education
With the news that Google Apps for Education will be integrated with Google+ in a few days, it’s time to start thinking about how social media and collaboration can be a reality for schools.
Posted in EdTech, Featured, Free Apps, Learning Communities, TeacherHax
Tagged classroom 2.0, Edmodo, edtech, education, facebook, google, Google App, Learning, Schoology, social learning, Social media, SocialCast, teaching, Yammer
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LMS Disruption– Free Web 2.0 Tools Can Co-Exist with the Centralized LMS
[Question from a colleague] It appears that OpenClass has the same mission as Canvas – OpenClass: “disrupt technology for education”, Canvas: “disrupting the Learning Management System (LMS) market.” Does this new partnership introduce any concerns about Canvas’ future. Blackboard has … Continue reading
Posted in EdTech, Featured, TeacherHax, Web 2.0
Tagged blackboard, canvas, David Wiley, disruption, DIY U, edtech, educational technology, EduPunk, google apps, instructure, Jon Mott, LDAP, Learning management system, lms, OLN, open class, open learning network, pearson, Personal Learning Network, PLN, web 2.0
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Secure Your Social Identity Across All Sites with NameChk.com
If you are trying to create a branded online identity, it helps to have a consistent username across all of the major sites. With NameChk.com, you can search once and see if your favorite username is available on 159 different … Continue reading
Switch from Teaching Word Processing to Teaching Web Processing
If you’re like me, one of the first computer skills you were taught in school is how to use a word processor. We all mastered the art of formatting words for the printed page because we were still using computers … Continue reading
Posted in Featured, TeacherHax, Web 2.0
Tagged BlueGriffon, chrome, edtech, firefox, HTML, internet, Microsoft, Microsoft Word, office, OmmWriter, Text editor, web, web design, word, World Wide Web, WriteRoom, WYSIWYG
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Take Dramatic 3D Screenshots of Websites with Firefox's Tilt Plugin
If you do a lot of presentations or tutorials about technology, you probably have to take screenshots of websites to illustrate your ideas. I really like to add a “wow” factor to my presentations whenever I can do it gracefully, … Continue reading
Posted in EdTech, Featured, TeacherHax, Web 2.0
Tagged Add-ons, Document Object Model, edtech, elearning, firefox, Mac OS X, presentations, Screenshot, screenshots, Skitch, Web browser, Web page, WebGL
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Blackboard Bought by Providence Equity Partners– What Does it Mean for Schools?
Posted in EdTech, Featured
Tagged BBBB, blackboard, edtech, elearning, lms, Mergers and acquisitions, moodle, NASDAQ, Private equity, Providence Equity Partners, sakai
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Make a "Hard to Guess but Easy to Remember" Password for Greater Cloud Security
In my last post, I recommended using a password manager like LastPass to help you create strong, unique passwords for all of the different sites you use. If you don’t like the idea of storing passwords in the cloud, the next … Continue reading
