Learning Resource Metadata

05 Dec 2011 at 10:01

enzofsilva

eLearning 2.0, instructional design, learning, open source, Web 2.0

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Something that bothers me sometimes is the poor search results yielded when one looks for educational resources. So many good projects I know of simply don’t show up in a simple Google search no matter what keywords I add into the search field. Results, in generalm are often irrelevant and require a lot of filtering to finally find GOOD learning materials. That is probably true for intranets in institutions as well.

While the issue goes beyoond finding relevant content,  the lack of a framework for assigning relevant metadata to learning resources (especially on the Web) affects other aspects of learning objects such as accessibility.

There are several metadata projects that aim at being universal in nature such as Microformats, as well as several others dedicated to the taxonomy of learning objects alone. Often, these are too complex. That’s where I think the Learning Resource Metadata Inniciative (LRMI) project comest in play: it claims to make learning object metadata simple. LMRI is an innitiative led by the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) and Creative Commons that is worth keeping an eye on.

 

Duolingo – free language learning while helping translate the Web

03 Dec 2011 at 22:27

enzofsilva

eLearning 2.0, languages, learning, social media, Technology

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Duolingo claims to help you learn a language for free because as you practice translating sentences you are simultaneously helping them translate the Web.

It is not clear to me whether translation is the only methodology behind their language learning approach, and it is so not clear what exactly they mean by the Web to be translated (which websites) or how it is done (where the information is stored, who uses it, how are the best translations of the same sentence selected, where the sentences come from, etc). Relying solely on translation as a method to learn a language can be tricky and ineffective. I hope Duolingo offers more than flash cards and translation questions, otherwise, the only value proposition that makes it different from a flash card software (which there are free AND open source ones out there) is the fact that the students are also doing some greater good by simultaneously translating the Web).

I still need to see the product and play with or for a full review (which I will add as an update to this post as soon as I can access it), but from the video, it does not seem to offer a variety of valid and effective activities that employ different approaches for language learning.


Cursos Online Gratuitos da Universidade de Stanford – Primeiro Semestre de 2012

28 Nov 2011 at 10:12

enzofsilva

learning, open source, Português, Technology, University

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Varias universidades no mundo todo têm disponibilizado seus cursos gratuitamente na Internet em diversos formatos ao longo dos anos. Um formato muito popular é o de podcasts no iTunesU ou palestras em vídeo no Youtube. Veja, por exemplo, esta vasta lista de “conteudo livre” ofertado por grandes universidades. Yale, por exemplo, disponibilizou várias palestras passadas em seu site “Open Yale“. A Open Uninversity (Universidade Aberta) permite que estudantes “experimentem” materiais de certos cursos gratuitamente em sua página de recursos OpenLearn.

Frequentemente, esses cursos não são nada mais que vídeos pré-gravados e elementos de áudio (não cursos completos e interativos) tornados públicos pelas universidades como uma forma de extensão comunitária (o que já é otimo, não me interpretem mal).

No entanto, a Stanford University está abrindo novos horizontes com seus cursos abertos online. Qualquer um (desde que compreenda os pré-requisitos recomendados) pode se inscrever em alguns de seus cursos online (gratuitamente) que ocorrerão durante o primeiro semestre de 2012. Os cursos consistem de palestras ao vivo (que também poderão ser acessadas posteriormente em um arquivo), questionários, e fóruns online nos quais os alunos poderão fazer perguntas.

A lista atual do primeiro semestre de 2012  inclue cursos sobre uma variedade eclética de assuntos que vão desde a Ciência da Computação, à Teoria dos Jogos, de Anatomia à Lingüística:

 

[Cursos em inglês - tradução livre de títulos]

Ciência da Computação 101
por Nick Parlante

http://cs101-class.org

Engenharia de Software para “Software as a Service” (SAAS)
por Armando Fox e David Patterson

http://saas-class.org/

Teoria de Jogos
por Mathew O. Jackson e Shoham Yoav

http://game-theory-class.org

Processamento de Linguagem Natural
por Dan Jurafsky e Christopher Manning

http://nlp-class.org

Modelos Gráficos Probabilísticos
por Daphne Koller

http://pgm-class.org/

Interfaces Humano-Computador
por Scott Klemmer

http://hci-class.org/

Aprendizado de Máquina
por Andrew Ng

http://jan2012.ml-class.org/

Empreendedorismo Tecnológico
por Chuck Eesley

http://entrepreneur-class.org/

O Lançamento Rápido (Empreendedorismo Rápido)
por Steve Blank

http://launchpad-class.org/

Criptografia
pelo professor Dan Boneh

http://crypto-class.org/

Teoria da Informação
por Tsachy (Itschak) Weissman

http://infotheory-class.org/

Anatomia
pelo Dr. Sakti Sirivastava

http://anatomy-class.org/

Projeto e Análise de Algoritmos I
por Tim Roughgarden

http://algo-class.org/

Construindo Edifícios Ecologicamente Amigáveis
pelo professor Martin Fischer

http://greenbuilding-class.org/

”"

 

=======

Lista adaptada do blog Aurora Rohan.

Free Full Online Courses by Stanford University – Spring 2012

24 Nov 2011 at 14:54

enzofsilva

free, learning, schools, University

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Several universities world-wide have made their courseware available in different formats over the years. A very popular format is that of podcasts on iTunesU or video lectures on Youtube. See, for instance, this broad list of “free courseware” offerings by major universities. Yale, for example, has made several past lectures available on their Open Yale website. The Open University lets students try course materials for free on their OpenLearn resources page, which. Often, these courses are nothing but pre-recorded videos and audio elements (not full interactive courses) made public by the universities as a form of community outreach (which is already great, don’t get me wrong).

However, Stanford University is blazing trails for open online courseware. Anyone (as long as they understand the recommended prerequisites)can sign up to take some of their courses online, free of charge in the Spring semester of 2012. The courses will consist of live lectures (which can also be see later in an archive), quizzes, and forums in which online students can ask questions.

The current Spring 2012 semester offerings include courses on an eclectic variety subjects ranging from Computer Science to Game Theory, from Anatomy to Linguistics:

Computer Science 101
by Nick Parlante

http://cs101-class.org

Software Engineering for Software as a Service (SAAS)
by Armando Fox and David Patterson

http://saas-class.org/

Game Theory
by Matthew O. Jackson and Yoav Shoham

http://game-theory-class.org

Natural Language processing
by Dan Jurafsky and Christopher Manning

http://nlp-class.org

Probabilistic Graphical Models
by Daphne Koller

http://pgm-class.org/

Human-Computer interfaces
by Scott Klemmer

http://hci-class.org/

Machine Learning
by Andrew Ng

http://jan2012.ml-class.org/

Technology Entrepreneurship
by Chuck Eesley

http://entrepreneur-class.org/

The Lean Launchpad
by Steve Blank

http://launchpad-class.org/

Cryptography
by Professor Dan Boneh

http://crypto-class.org/

Information Theory
by Tsachy (Itschak) Weissman

http://infotheory-class.org/

Anatomy
by Dr. Sakti Sirivastava

http://anatomy-class.org/

Design and Analysis of Algorithms I
by Tim Roughgarden

http://algo-class.org/

Making Green Buildings
by Professor Martin Fischer

http://greenbuilding-class.org/

 

”"

 

=======

List adapted from The Rohan Aurora blog.

No Texting While Driving (or Working) – DragonDictate Speech-to-Text

12 Oct 2011 at 19:07

enzofsilva

Apps, free, languages, mobile, Português, Technology

1 Comment

In my post, I always like to talk about useful tools that I personally use. Here is a lifesaver (literally, if youre the kind who cant resist texting while driving).
If you are always on the go and of course cant or shouldnt type while driving, here is a practical solution: use DragonDictate. This handy iOS app is a speech recognition tool that turns your spoken words into text. It is quite accurate too. I have made it a point to dictate this post through DragonDictate without any manual corrections.
With a simple one button interface, DragonDictate lets you speak your next blog post, e-mail, text message, tweet, or even a novel if youre that adventurous.
It also supports other languages, by the way. Did I mention it is free to download?

5 Free Online Visual Dictionary and Thesaurus Applications

12 Oct 2011 at 19:04

enzofsilva

free, languages, learning, open source, Technology, WebApps

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Sometimes, when I need some inspiration and ideas for words to use in a project, I take the visual route and consult a “visual thesaurus”.

These handy Web applications can help you quickly find new words for a concept you’re working with, visualize its relationship with other words, and, of course, amplify your vocabulary and aid you in avoiding repetition, replication, redundancy, and echolalia, et &…

Here are a few online visual thesaurus applications that are free to use:

SnappyWords -Soon to have its open source code available for the public, SnappyWords can came in handy when you want to share a word’s connections with others: each entry has a unique search entry URL that takes users straight to its visual “network map”. This service also provides a built-in hover-over dictionary (when you hover over each word’s node, of course).

VisuWords -Very similar to SnappyWords, this application doesn’t seem to allow direct linking to specific words. Built-in dictionary.

WordVis - This simple visual thesaurus lets you filter words by different parts of speech and categories. Once again, no direct hyperlinking to specific words is provided. Built-in dictionary.

 

GraphWords – This visual thesaurus has handy (am I using the word “handy” too often in this post?), I meant “commodious” social media sharing buttons for quickly sharing your word maps with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Unlike the previous services on this list, GraphWords has a drawback: no built-in dictionary is provided.

Merriam-Webster’s Visual Dictionary – This is a typical illustrated dictionary. Illustrations are available in different categories. The search mechanism (custom Google search) isn’t very effective, but the illustration work is quite comprehensive.

 

 

An Unofficial Look into Steve Jobs’ Life and Career

06 Oct 2011 at 08:08

enzofsilva

Life in General

1 Comment

The All About Steve Jobs website is an unofficial yet comprehensive source of information about Steve’s lifestyle, career, key people in his life, genius on stage, and genius at work.

The neatly-curated and well-presented information on this website includes interviews with colleagues, family, employees, and the man himself. Here you can have a glimpse at the way he worked with people on a daily basis, how he led Apple to mainstream success with his vision and “gut feeling” for good design, how he alone (and hist good taste for what simply works) was the consumer-testing department for every new product  at Apple.

A timeline shows Steve’s accomplishments at a glance.

An interesting fact about this website is that it has been built by a true fan over the years, not as a homage after Steve’s passing.

Image source: All About Steve Jobs.com

Steve Jobs Has Passed Away

05 Oct 2011 at 21:39

enzofsilva

Life in General

No Comments

A visionary, as many say. May sound clichè, but he (and the team he led) have truly revolutionized the world of technology. Under Steve’s command Apple brought UNIX-based laptop and desktop machines to a wider audience with the Mac with a longer life cycle than any more popular Windows-based systems then. Steve made  listening to music while wearing earbuds cool with the iPod line, and changed the world of mobile telephony with the simply yet powerful iPhone. He  (literally)  pushed the envelope for power in a small package with the MacBook Air, and (despite the initial controversy in the media) created a new standard in tablet computers with the iPad laying out the path for others to follow.
A few things I will remember about Jobs for:

  • The precursor of the Personal Computer era,
  • User-centered design and engineering working together into one product. Products that needed no manuals: play with them as soon as you get them out of the box. Remember the first iMacs? Seeing my daughter play with an iPhone since she was less than 2 years old is a testimony to Steve’s genius in proving complex experiences packaged in simplicity.
  • Technology not for technology’s sake, but having solutions and people in their center,
  • Awe-inspiring presentations that were just as simple as the products he envisioned. Using metaphors, clean imagery, and a soft-spoken tone.

Being in the field of Education myself, I have to say that Apple has long had a foot in Education providing excellent resources, professional development on how to use their products in and outside the classroom, and even offering products exclusively targeting the Education market. But it’s due to Jobs’ vision that creative professionals, educators, students are able to access, create, and share knowledge in ways we could only imagine a few years ago, being it on iOS devices’ innovative gesture-oriented interface, or sleek MacBook on the go.

Steve played a big role in Apple’s ascension. The world of technology in general owes a lot to his vision and leadership.

Even though he has passed away, his legacy is here to stay. He will be missed.

 

Here is what the Apple website looked like on  this sad day.

 

Some countries translated the message above.
Here are some examples.

 

Brazil:

 

 

Argentina:

HTML for Babies [BOOK]

26 Aug 2011 at 13:38

enzofsilva

Books, Reviews, Technology

No Comments

If this is not the epitome of our era, in which kids are exposed earlier and earlier to various technological innovations, I’m not sure what is.

A great idea by Web designer John Vanden-Heuvel from CodeBabies.

This visually simple, yet stunning book is designed for the “children’s books” section of retailers, but I’m sure geek parents might have more fun with the book than the kids would (not that babies would’t love playing with the colorful letters of the book). If only Tim Berners-Lee had one of these when he was 6 months old…

HTML for Babies can be found on Amazon.

Book Description

It’s never too early to be standards compliant! Show your little ones HTML markup code along with letter forms to get them started on the visual patterns and symbols that make up the essential building blocks of the Web. The first in a three-volume set, originally designed by a NYC Web Designer for his baby, this beautiful book is a fun and colorful introduction to the world of web design for babies.
I’ve guaranteed my copy of HTML for Babies, and eagerly await the release of CSS for Infants, Java for Toddlers… oh well…
Via @CodeBabies and ThisIsMyNext blog.

Steve Jobs – Thinking Outside the Box

25 Aug 2011 at 07:50

enzofsilva

Technology

No Comments

It’s common knowledge that Steve Jobs is an innovator and has done a great hob at bringing Apple back up and making it one of the most prominent technology companies of our time.

This video is particularly interesting in that it shows Jobs’ ability to express ideas in a simple manner with effective persuasive discourse that elicits just the right reaction from the audience. When he announced the partnership with Microsoft, back in 1997, he made a careful choice of words and visual aids (including a live video link with Bill Gates) to explain the partnership highlights.

Perhaps the following sentence  is the perfect example that summarizes his genius in that deal and the fact that he makes the right decision even when people can’t seem to comprehend why at first. Back when Apple vs. Microsoft was even more serious business, Steve Jobs says at 7’17″:

“If we wanna move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again we have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, APPLE has to do a really good job, and if others are gonna help us, that’s great! Because we need all the help that we can get. And if we screw up and don’t do a good job it’s not someone else’s fault: it’s our fault!”

Here’s a good (old) article on Businessweek about Steve Jobs’ presentation secrets: Uncovering Steve Jobs’ Presentation Secrets.

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