[ED-TECH] TED Talks

Ed-Tech list members,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Go to http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/ and look at the wonderful talks that are available to be watched on-line or downloaded.

MORE DETAILS

In the past two days I have been told about TED Talks by three independent sources. I suppose that means either it is my duty to spend some time on this and pass it on to you or else everyone else knows about it except me. So, if you don't know about TED Talks, here are some brief details.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It is a conference and series of talks. The conference costs $6,000 to attend, I believe. The 2007 conference was March 7-9. The 2008 conference is already sold out, since only 1,000 people are allowed to attend. A number of the talks are available on-line. You might find many of them stimulating. You might find some of them useful as part of your student's learning experiences. The range of experts is wide, so there is material on almost every topic.

Go to http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/ to access the on-line talks. A new talk is made available each week. You can watch on-line or download the video or audio to use off-line. I encourage you to at least go to the http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/ page and see what is there. I hope that you will find it useful both in your personal development and your design of learning activities for your students.

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944

[ED-TECH] Best Educational E-Practices [BEEP]

Ed-Tech members,

BEEP is a great source for information on e-learning, distributed by St. Petersburg College. Lost of links; lots of examples; lots of ideas. You might want to spend an hour or so during Spring break to take a look and see whether this information is relevant to you and your activities. Here is a link to their issue on "Teaching Critical Thinking Skills and Other Tips for E-Faculty":

http://www.spcollege.edu/eagle/research/beep/beep52.htm

You can use the links on the left of that page to get to all back issues, and issues organized by topics. To be notified when a new issue is released or updated, send an e-mail request to lechnerj@spcollege.edu and ask to join BEEPers@spcollege.edu.

Have a re-creational spring break! (Come back renewed and, in some way, new!)

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944

[ED-TECH] Meeting Times & E-mail Spam

Ed-Tech list members,

Two things are going to happen in the next week. First, Daylight Savings Time goes into effect on March 11, three weeks earlier than normal. Because many of us use computerized calendaring systems, appointments on those systems may be off by an hour, either early or late, depending on when the appointment was made, and which systems have been properly patched. Luckily March 12 is Spring Break at UM, so that week shouldn't be too much trouble for most people, but the following two weeks may have problems.

Be sure to (1) keep your system(s) updated with all the latest patches, (2) follow the suggestions of your system and e-mail administrators, and (3) check things out before going to meetings during the three weeks starting March 11, and then the week that starts in October and ends in November in the fall. You might want to note the starting time of meetings in the subject line in your calendar, so you will know if it got moved somehow.

On March 12 UM is scheduled to implement a wonderful new Spam identification system. All e-mail addressed to x@miami.edu or x@umiami.edu will be processed by this system. Mail to x@sba.miami.edu and x@as.miami.edu and other such specialized addresses will not be affected in any way. This system will, by default, change the title of the e-mail to include the word [SPAM]. Nothing will be blocked. But through an easy to use web page, you can have the system hold mail that it thinks is Spam, and send you a daily notice of what it held that day for you. You can release it item by item if you want. It has a number of additional features. More information will be available before it is turned on.

I just wanted to share these two items from the System Administrator's meeting today. Have a great weekend.

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944