Som Sabadell Flash Mob

This was just for fun—because it's just so spectacular!

Global Giveback 2013

One of the best take-aways from the e-Learning Guild's Learning Solutions 2013 conference was the opportunity to join fellow instructional designers around the world in volunteering to design e-courses for Nongovernment Organizations (NGOs) doing good work in developing nations.

LINGOs is a not-for-profit consortium of over 75 international humanitarian relief, development, conservation and social justice organizations that share learning resources and experiences. By providing the latest learning technologies and courses from our partners, LINGOs helps our member nonprofits to increase the skill levels of their employees, and therefore increase the impact of their programs. (LINGOs Web site)

You can connect with LINGOs and the Global Giveback 2013 initiative by joining the Global Giveback group at LinkedIn. It's a great way to build a portfolio, network with colleagues and do good work in developing nations from the relative comfort of your first world environment!

Courses designed for this initiative may be entered in an annual competition which recognizes excellence in volunteer course design from across the NGO sector. The Last Mile Learning Library provides a great peek into the curriculum and an overview of the four certificates currently offered to staff of NGOs across the globe.

Social Media 101 Workshop (Please Register Now! Open to the Public!)

It's not too late to register for our Social Media 101 workshop being held this coming Tuesday, March 26 in the Clyde Foster Multipurpose Room in the College of Business on Alabama A&M University campus. The public is welcome and attendance is FREE! We'll be serving light refreshments and welcome you to bring your own (fully charged) wifi-enabled device (encouraged, but optional)! If you can't make the workshop, you're still welcome to join our Social Media Learning Community by way of this Social Media Reference Guide shared document.

(I like to use these shared document "reference guides" to create a little learning community in association with each of our workshops. It's a great way to get warmed up for the event, as well as stay in touch afterward, sharing success stories, links and ideas for best practice!)

e-Learning Conferences for 2013-14

Just stumbled on a great resource at the e-Learning Tech blog! HERE is a massive list of e-learning conferences coming up in the next year or so. I'll keep a link to this in the link lists to the right, and will try to keep it updated year to year!

Anyone else going to be in Las Vegas next month at the Sloan-C conference?

Creative Commons Announces “School of Open” with Courses to Focus on Digital Openness

This is exciting! Check out Open Culture's announcement of the Creative Commons' "School of Open" launched recently. The online courses will orient and guide course developers through the world of open educational resources available for course building!

Although the first slate of online classes have already started, there is a great list of upcoming topics and a Google group to join if one wants to be part of the discussion and course development. I signed up!

Robert Ballard on Exploring the Depths of the Oceans

"I had to give the wrong answer to get an A." (RB)

BITS: (FREE) Blackboard Weekly Webinar Series

Have you heard? Blackboard hosts a no-cost weekly webinar series called BITS: Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series. From the site:

BITS is a training initiative to help augment (not replace) your internal training efforts. Harnessing our community of Blackboard users, BITS will share the top strategies and pedagogy for both increasing educator efficiency and improving learning outcomes. BITS is free to Blackboard’s clients and is easy to participate. The program consists of weekly faculty training webinars that are taught by faculty and supported by Blackboard experts.

I'm signing up! There will be a permanent link to the series in our Blackboard resources section on this page!