Google Sites began as a way to create a small, simple Web site. It doesn't offer many options for customizing the look and feel of a site or adding functionality like a contact form, but it's good if all you need to do is publish information. As Google Sites has matured, it has developed many wiki-like functions that can make it useful as a small-scale note-keeping application. The keystone of this functionality is the ability to give other people viewing or editing privileges on your site. You can also mark a site private so that only people you allow in may see it. Every page you create on Google Sites has a revision history similar to the one in Google Docs, so you can go back to look at an older version of your notes. You can also attach files to your site that are versioned as well. Pages can be put into a simple hierarchy to keep similar topics organized together. Finally, there's a stream of comments attached to every page that's separate from its content. These features can make a Google Site a useful tool for facilitating collaboration among a small group of people, as a site can be updated independently and commented on by each team member. The file versioning functionality also makes it easy to store documents centrally -- instead of having to rename a file every time you want to hold onto a new version, you can let Google Sites take care of it for you. To learn more about Google Sites, take a look at their online overview. If you're shopping around for a free wiki, you might also want to take a look at pbWiki.

Labels: faculty, students

Course textbook selection is a common part of faculty preparation for an upcoming semester. In the past adopting a textbook provided faculty and students only content and resources within the physical textbook. Changing demographics of students and the availablity of resources on the Internet has prompted many textbook publishers to think beyond the traditional textbook to include web site companions to their most popular textbooks and content (aka Course Cartridges) that can be imported into Learning Management Systems (LMS) including Blackboard. Available content may range from online quizzes based on book chapters, high resolution illustrations, animations or simulations of featured content, and flash cards.

Labels: blackboard, resources, textbooks

Call for Papers Interactive Technologies Conference August 19-21, 2009 Sheraton Crystal City Hotel Arlington Virginia Abstracts for presentations from knowledgeable professionals in industry, government, military, public education and academia are solicited to provide presentations which would be part of a comprehensive conference program on the latest interactive technologies as they are being applied to training, education and job performance improvement, including ways to implement technology, descriptions of education and technical skills applications, e-Learning, enterprise management, and instructional systems design, together with Knowledge Management systems. To submit your abstract online go to: http://www.salt.org/index.htm?dc/washingtonP.asp?pn=submitabsinfo For a PDF version of the Call for Papers go to: http://www.salt.org/docs/call.pdf Society for Applied Learning Technology 50 Culpeper Street Warrenton, Va 20186 Ph: (540) 347-0055 Fax: (540) 349-3169 Web: http://www.salt.org

Labels: announcement, event, faculty

Poorly worded questions can adversely affect the quality of assessment results. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you write and review questions:

1. Keep stems and statements as short as possible and use clear, concise language.
2. Use questions whenever possible (What, Who, When, Where, Why and How).
3. Maintain grammatical consistency to avoide cueing.
4. List choices in a logical order.
5. Avoid negatives, especially double negatives.
6. Avoid unnecessary modifiers, especially absolutes (e.g. always, never, etc.).
7. Avoid "All of the above" and use "None of the above" with caution.
8. Avoid vauge pronouns (e.g. it, they).
9. Avoid conflicting alternatives.
10. Avoid syllogistic reasoning choices (e.g. "both a and b are correct") unless absolutely necessary.
11. Avoid providing cues to correct answer in the stem.
12. Avoid providing clues to the answer of one question in another question.

You can find more information about best practices at the Questionmark Learning Cafe:

http://www.questionmark.com/go/learningcafe

Labels: assessment, questionmark, resources