Best practices of mobile app design applied to mobile learning and performance support.Post from: The eLearning Coach10 Tips For Designing mLearning And Support Apps

Mom and Dad, are you looking for a fun, easy project to do with your daughters … to spark their interest in coding and 3D printing? Made with Code and Google have created a cool, easy-to-use website that anyone can use to design a nifty bracelet then have it 3D printed and shipped for FREE. Yes, FREE! Here’s the link: https://www.madewithcode.com/project/bracelet. Read more, here, too. UPDATE: APPARENTLY SINCE I GOT MINE, THIS SITE NO LONGER PRINTS AND SHIPS THE 3D BRACELET! BOO! HOWEVER, YOU CAN STILL DESIGN THE BRACELET AND THEN CHOOSE ‘DOWNLOAD 3D BRACELET FILE,’ WHICH NCS PARENTS CAN EMAIL TO KJARRETT@NCS-NJ.ORG FOR PRINTING! And here’s what the bracelet looks like, modeled by Gumdrop, our class mascot Webkin! Have fun!

When you're designing learning experiences, long-term memory is your ultimate destination. We need a user's guide.Post from: The eLearning CoachLong-Term Memory: A User’s Guide

Just came across this and wanted to share - what a fantastic selection of projects and activities for the classroom as well as the home! Rainy/cold winter days will be upon us soon, so, get your craft sticks, glue guns, rubber bands, propellers, wheels, straws, etc., ready for some fun! Click the image above or this link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Project-Based-Engineering-for-Kids/.

I watched the BBC documentary about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last night. It wasn’t especially enlightening. The story goes something like this; Psychology major with computer science skills puts the Harvard facebook online (a facebook is a book of photos of students produced by each college) It becomes really popular with students Other local universities like MIT want to join in Zuckerburg and mates think; "This could be big!" They drop out of college and move to Silicon Valley There are other social networking sites like MySpace, Bebo and Friendster but Zuckerburg’s focus on the psychology rather than the code pays off Facebook becomes the social network that everyone uses So why does everyone use Facebook? The simple answer - because everyone uses Facebook. There is no benefit in using a social network that isn’t used by your friends. I’m on Google+ but precious few others are. I like Google+ it has some really cool features but without the people it’s a waste of time. Q: Why does everyone use Facebook? A: Because everyone uses Facebook. When I first started using Facebook I really didn’t get it. Whenever I went to my page there was stuff that other people were doing - weird! Of course I soon understood the concept of the ‘wall’ - there was always something happening even if I hadn’t bothered sharing any content myself. Twitter takes the same approach - your ‘timeline’ is always being updated even if you don’t tweet much yourself. When I ask people about Facebook their understanding of it in technical terms is very limited but at a user level it’s easy to use and the psychology of it is very clever. The simple ‘like’ button for example made it so much simpler to indicate personal preferences. Google adopted the same approach with search - the mainly white page with a single search box hid the complexity of Google’s complex technology. Clearly simplicity is key when you are going for world domination. Until now I have always considered Facebook to be a mainly friends and family networking tool but maybe I should create a Designed for Learning page and see what it’s like to be a business on Facebook. Please ‘like’ this post…to help further my research.

A half dozen principles for designing text for learning.Post from: The eLearning CoachDesigning Text-based Information

UPDATE 9/19: Whoa, Nelly! We’ve been INUNDATED with responses from interested partner classrooms! Want in? Please fill out this form if you haven’t already. THANKS!!! Hello, Grade 2 teachers … in the USA and around the world! We’re Northfield Community Elementary School in southeastern New Jersey and we’re looking for five partner classes to work with us this year on various collaborative projects. Our great state of New Jersey’s technology standards include the following for second graders: 8.1.2.C.1: Engage in a variety of developmentally appropriate learning activities with students in other classes, schools, or countries using electronic tools. And so, we need YOU and YOUR STUDENTS! What for, exactly? Great question! We’re open to ideas. We’re about ready to kick off a neat blogging project on empathy. That could work. We also have plans to explore the environment (a compare & contrast with your neck of the woods would be super easy and could go in a lot of directions). We can use Skype, Google Hangouts, or services like appear.in or meetings.io. We’ve got a pretty awesome STEMLAB (my K-4 technology education classroom) in which we do lots of cool projects that could also be fun to try together. The sky’s the limit. Really! Meet my Second Grade team. Who’s awesome? They’re awesome! From left to right, that’s Mr. Dave Supp, Ms. Fay Crooks, Mrs. Mary Kay McGlynn, Mrs. Michelle Seals and Mrs. Sindy Baker. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know me, I’m the K-4 technology teacher here at NCS. I see these fine folks and their students once a week (2:00-2:50pm EDT, approximately) but these collaborations could easily be worked into YOUR schedules. What do you think? Interested? Got any questions? Fire away! Leave us a comment below. Fill out this form! We’re looking forward to working with you and your students! Best, Mr. Jarrett

Learn how to use a PPT grid to improve your eLearning graphics.Post from: The eLearning CoachDesigning With A PowerPoint Grid

Just came across this article about programming resources for kids … there are tons of these lists, but I found this particular one worth sharing because several of them are new to me … we’ve used Scratch and Tynker … Alice is for older kids (advanced upper elementary & middle) … many of these tools are available as apps as well as websites. Check them all out and see which your kids like best (personally I think Tynker is the strongest in the group.) Enjoy!

This is the online version of the Pecha Kucha presentation (20 slides of 20 seconds each) that I gave at the e-Learning Network (ELN) event in London on 21 October 2011. I’ll be at the next ELN event in London later this week (Friday 9th December) where the subject will be; "Writing great copy, storyboards, and scenarios for e-learning". It will also be the grand final of the 2011 Pecha Kucha competition. Hope you can make it!