Debates over children and media use are nothing new, but the technologies by which children primarily interact with media have changed significantly. Most guidelines related to "screen time" were developed when television was the dominant media, but new technologies are making us question the value of older research. In its most recent report on the [...] The post Empowering Student Relationships With Media appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

My recent update of my eportfolio site, Folioz, went without a hitch and the Mahara update brings many new improvements. The ability to choose/upload images from the editor is long overdue and has always been a glaring limitation of the TinyMCE editor. A new annotation block allows for feedback in any context. Only time will tell [...] The post Mahara 15.04 update brings improved functionality appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

The Tin Can Launch plugin for Moodle(https://github.com/garemoko/moodle-mo...) allows you to launch Tin Can content and track that content to an external LRS configured in Moodle. The plugin then pulls data from the LRS back into Moodle to feed Moodle’s completion tracking and give the learner that little green tick! This short video gives an overview [...] The post Moodle Tin Can Launch Plugin appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

Being digitally literate is not just about knowing how to use programs or being aware of copyright law. It’s also about being able to ask the right questions. This is another reason to have a news section in your Computing lessons, in addition to the 5 reasons to have a Computing news section of your [...] The post Digital literacy is about asking the right questions appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

According to the Office of Research Consumer Guide, portfolios are "a collection of student work representing a selection of performance." While artists have kept them for hundreds of years, portfolios emerged in modern education (PDF) from college writing courses in the 1980s. Electronic portfolios are online versions of this tool. If done well, portfolios can [...] The post 11 Essentials for Excellent ePortfolios appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

  I am very excited to see v0.9.0 released even though I have been running and testing it for many months now. Now that it supports running on current versions of Ubuntu and has an HTML5 client in the works this has developed into a powerful teaching resource. It even claims to be able to support [...] The post Open Source web conferencing software BigBlueButton v0.9.0 released! appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

Methods of documenting the knowledge and skills of students and employees could change dramatically over the next 10 years, according to a new report from KnowledgeWorks, a nonprofit organization that works with schools and communities to foster personalized learning. The report, "Certifying Skills and Knowledge: Four Scenarios on the Future of Credentials," examines trends in [...] The post Report: 4 Scenarios for Future Credentialing Systems appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global/IMS), the world leader in EdTech interoperability and impact, announces the formation of the Executive Board on Assessment (EBA). The EBA’s mission is to set industry direction for years to come and to accelerate the transition to e-assessment by building on the success of the QTI®v2 (Question & Test Interoperability® [...] The post IMS Global Announces Initiative to Create a Highly Interoperable Assessment Ecosystem to Accelerate Transition to e-Assessment appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

    In the infographic, Blended and Online Assessment Taxonomy, we have organized types of activities that suit various levels of assessments (2001) starting with remember, understand, and apply in the first row. Assessment activities like matching, multiple choice, and word problems fall among these lower levels of learning. Grading and feedback criteria for these [...] The post Blended and Online Assessment Taxonomy Design appeared first on Patric Lougheed.

IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global / IMS) today announced the formation of a new initiative aimed at communicating the benefits and availability of open interoperability to school leaders.  Incorporation of IMS standards at leading school districts such as Gwinnett County, Georgia, Houston Independent School District, Texas, and Orange County, Florida have significantly improved the […] The post IMS Global Announces K-12 Open EdTech Ecosystem Initiative appeared first on Patric Lougheed.