Trump Discovers Huge Wall in Québec

 

Republican candidate Donald Trump grabbed the headlines once again with a shocking announcement today:

As you know, when I am elected President of the United States, I will be building a wall on our southern border. This wall will be the most amazing, enormous, and luxurious wall that has ever been built. I have had my people scanning the globe for a fabulous wall to serve as a model. Today I am in Québec to present this wall behind me to the American people. Of course, many people in the construction industry are already talking about it. And me. I imagine they are probably saying: "Trump has done it again."

Sources inside the campaign confirm that a team of Trump specialists have been dispatched to study just what makes this wall so enormous, despite its seemingly modest physical dimensions.

Keyng on Quirky

Keyng is a boardless keying system with tactile response for alphanumeric input to portable devices through exoskeleton frames.

I developed the idea about 18 months ago, but haven't really done much since then. I've decided to submit Keyng to Quirky--and crowdsourcing product development site.

If you like the idea, please vote :)

Here is the first prototype--built out of Legos--by my son:

The Salsa project completes Phase 1

Having successfully provided web-accessible online syllabi to more than 5,000 students during the Fall 2014 pilot program, the Salsa project completed Phase 1 on January 31, 2015.

Phase 1 was made possible through funding provided by the Utah Science and Technology Research (USTAR) initiative, and a partnership between Commercial Enterprises and the Center for Innovative Design & Instruction (CIDI).

Salsa is an open-source, web-based application for creating accessible higher-education syllabi. The full application is available for download at GitHub.

What a difference a day makes....

April 16 & 17, 2015

Utah State University campus

Bird Song Labs

I developed this instructional tool for the College of Natural Resources at Utah State University a few years back. There are three labs that contain image maps of 35 North American birds. Click on a bird's image and you will hear its song:

There has been speculation that listening to birds sing may have mental health benefits: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/can-bird-songs-boost-your-brain

Bullet-proof Jigsaw Instruction Sheet

Have you ever tried to conduct a Jigsaw Activity with your learners? It can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, but one that is often worth the results if you muscle through :)

Here is my attempt to create a Bullet-proof Instruction Sheet™ for Jigsaw Activities:

PDF file: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/gjoeckel/bis/Jigsaw_Instructions.pdf

Please share suggestions for improvements!



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keeping the GUI simple with the HUI

The Hidden User Interface

As we strive to maintain the "easy as dirt"* usability of the Graphic User Interface (GUI) in our open source Salsa application, we are creating a customizable User interface that lives "beneath" the GUI. We have even coined an original term: Hidden User Interface (HUI).**

We're still fleshing out the concept, but here are some thoughts:

GUI

1. Achieve simplicity and beauty through "ruthless reduction" (inspired by Fedarko's description of dories in The Emerald Mile).
2. Provide an interface that is accessible for all Users.
3. Maintain a common "top-level" interface to support interactions between Users: collaborative creation of SALSAs, feedback, coaching. 
4. Maintain a common "top-level" interface to optimize resources and services provided for Users: documentation, training, support.

HUI

1. Provide the ability to adapt to a User's spatial and/or visual preferences.
2. Allow the User to select the level of instructional scaffolding that is visible.
3. Allow Users to also share HUIs through the "Template Link" (currently allows a User to share content without creating a User account).

SALSA template link

*Actual client feedback on a beta version.
** Originality claim based on an exhaustive (several minutes) Google search.

Getting my global geek on

Today I received Happy Ugadi greetings from the Swift eLearning team:

A quick check on Wikipedia informs me: 

Yugādi,Telugu:Ugadi (ఉగాది/యుగాది), (Ugādi 'Samvatsarādi Kannada: ಯುಗಾದಿ Yugadi , Konkani/Marathi: युगादि yugādi) is the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India. The name Yugadi or Ugadi is derived from the Sanskrit words yuga (age) and ādi (beginning): "the beginning of a new age". It falls on a different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar calendar. The Saka calendar begins with the month of Chaitra (March–April) and Ugadi marks the first day of the new year. Chaitra is the first month in Panchanga which is the Indian calendar.

The question is, do I send a greeting in Telugu, Kannada, Konkani, or Marathi?

JS to the rescue:

var lang = "language";

if (lang = "Telugu") {

"-ఉగాది శుభాకాంక్షలు"

}

else if (lang = "Kannada") {

"ಯುಗಾದಿ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು"

}

else if (lang = "Konkani" ) {

"Navve varsache shubhashay, Samsar padvyache shubhashay."

}

else if (lang = "Marathi") {

"'गुढी पाडव्याच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा'" 

}

else {

"Happy Ugadi!"

}

I didn't want to limit the critique of my JS to just my readers, so I posted on StackFlow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22790439/js-formula-for-ugadi-greeting

Incorporating Bloom's Revised Taxonomy into a Syllabus

Many higher education institutions recommend that instructors use Bloom's Revised Taxonomy when creating a syllabus. Here are a few examples: Chicago State University, Duquense University, University of Illinois - Champaign-Urbana, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina - Greensboro and University of West Florida.

Incorporating Bloom's Revised into a syllabus is very easy with the open source syllabus authoring tool Salsa. Action verbs grouped by Bloom's Revised are built into the product:

Instructors can select a level of Bloom's:

And when they click on the verb, it is added to the text editor:

What are your thoughts on Bloom's Revised in the syllabus?

Salsa tool helps create effective Learning Outcomes

OER Salsa: an open source syllabus builder

Thanks to Geoff Cain for featuring Salsa on his blog Brainstorm in Progress!

opensource.com article on Salsa

Salsa: an open source syllabus creator for educators

Thanks to the folks at opensource.com for an awesome write-up!

Salsa is up and running!

We'll be launching version 1.0 of Salsa shortly, but in the meantime, the open-source application is up and running.

Follow Salsa on Twitter: Follow @Salsa4HE

What are SALSAs?

SALSAs are styled & accessible learning service agreements for contemporary higher-education students, particularly those participating in some form of asynchronous learning delivered online.

SALSAs are:

• accessible to all students regardless of physical or sensory impairment
• styled to provide clarity and consistency
• organized into six parts: information, outcomes, resources, activities, policies and grades

The Center for Innovative Design & Instruction at Utah State University is developing an open-source, web application named Salsa. Building on the design of the PDF Syllabus Builder, this authoring tool generates online documents in PDF and HTML format.

Merrill's First Principles of Instruction

If you're not familiar with David Merrill's First Principles of Instruction, I suggest that you check out this classic post from Dr. Joel Gardner. In this post you will find links to two great research articles on applying the First Principles of Instruction.

Joel has been involved with teaching and learning for over a decade, and is currently Program Chair of the Instructional Design and Performance Technology Program at Franklin University. I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Gardner at the Faculty Assistance Center for Teaching (FACT) for a few years, and he co-authored the original article on the OAR model with Tae Jeon and myself.

The Next Version of 8MP

Based on a few conversations with Subject Matter Experts, here is my update visual model for the eight  mathematical practices from the Common Core State Standards:

Mathematical Practices for Common Core State Standards

This is 8MP. It's my first version of a visual model to represent the 8 Mathematical Practices for Common Core State Standards.

Audio Feedback in Online Courses

Providing verbal feedback to students is a great way to overcome the time/space gap inherent in online learning. Feedback that is frequent and personalized (to a degree tailored to the class size), has consistently proven to be an important component of many of the most successful online courses that I have reviewed.

Our institution uses the Canvas Learning Management System, and I encourage instructors to use the built-in audio recording tool for feedback. If your LMS does not have a built-in component, the open-source software program Audacity is very easy to use--and free :)

I think that hearing the instructor's voice creates an opportunity for a student to feel a deeper connection. It is also an efficient way to share feelings--curiosity, concern, empathy, etc.--that are difficult to represent in text. If you haven't used audio feedback in your online course designs, pilot it on a small scale, and see if you like the results.

Effective Instructional Explanations

Thanks to Dyeseka at Open Colleges for sending me Customized Instruction: Four Charateristics of Effective Instructional Explanations by Saga Briggs.  Good stuff!

PDF Syllabus Builder is Need-to-Know News

Thanks to Debbie Morrison at the online learning insights blog for featuring the PDF Syllabus Builder in today's post: Need-to-Know News: The Making of a MOOC, College Scorecard and Syllabus Builder Tool.

Tools and Resources for the Flipped Classroom

Julie Schell at the Turn to Your Neighbor (TTYN) blog has shared a great Annotated List of Flipped Class Tools and Resources featuring rising stars like Educreations, NB, PeerWise and the PDF Syllabus Builder :) Thanks Julie!