Reading is Epic!

One of my favorite apps at the moment is Epic! This free app allows teachers to set up accounts for their classes to access what has been described as a Netflix for children's books. The app is truly amazing and my children love it. There are books, audiobooks, and videos from popular fiction and non-fiction authors and publishers. When a reading app is free, I tend to balk since the quality can be questionable. Not so in this case. It is a breeze to set up the accounts and make reading lists for individuals or whole classes. Teachers can monitor what students read and view and how long it takes them to do so. 

Of course, there is always a catch. The app is only available during school hours. If you try to log in too early in the morning, in the evening, or on weekends you are out of luck. If you don't want to pay for the family subscription, which quite honestly is not very expensive, there are other alternatives for accessing similar high-quality content. Storyline Online has members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) narrate animated versions of popular children's books. If your public or school library subscribes to BookFlix, TrueFlix, or TumbleBooks you can access these digital resources for free. Access to ebooks and audiobooks may also be available through your local public or school library through OverDrive. There are many viable options to supplement the content in the Epic app.

OpenLearning18

OPEN LEARNING: A Connectivist MOOC for Faculty Collaboratives

February 4-March 29 , 2018

Open Learning ‘18 launches February 4, 2018 … and you’re invited!

There’s a great deal of excitement in higher education around the word “open.” Open Educational Resources. Open Access. Open Pedagogical Practices. Open and Participatory Cultures. What do these terms mean, and how can they benefit your work? Good questions!

As part of Virginia’s ongoing “Faculty Collaboratives” effort, we are pleased to announce the second iteration of a free, online, and open learning experience focused on all these topics. It’s called “Open Learning ’18.” Somewhere between a course of study and an informal conversation, the experience emphasizes collegial, interactive, networked learning and sharing. Who is this for?

• Are you open to new ways of motivating student learning?
• Are you curious about open education, but haven’t really learned much about it before?
• Are you interested in new modes of scholarly communication, including how to develop a public voice?
• Do you have experience with some aspects of open education and want to learn about others?
• Are you an expert already?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, there’s a place for you at Open Learning ’18.

Girls & STEM

One of my biggest regrets is not having a computer science degree (yet). My high school had an award winning program, but I didn't understand what it was and it seemed really intimidating. Something for math majors only, which I didn't have any interest in. Reading articles like this about young girls promoting robotics to their peers is really encouraging.

No Office

My No Office Experiment is an interesting blog post about a campus administrator going without an office in order to be closer to his department. I applaud his desire for visibility and what he has learned as he traveled to the offices of colleagues around campus, but I'm not sure how it would work in the long run. I wholeheartedly believe that administrators need to be visible and move around campus regularly. How else are you going to get the pulse of the school? However, unless you can guarantee conference room space when you need it for meetings with outside vendors or confidential phone/Skype sessions, it seems to me that having your own office, even a small one, would be beneficial.

Kindle Unlimited

I tend not to buy books unless I NEED it, it is a children's book, and a really good deal. I download audiobooks from my public library web page. I'm not sure when the last time I was physically in the library, but my circulation stats are pretty high. I will be curious to see how Amazon's Kindle Unlimited works. I can't imagine new bestsellers will be on there.

Back to school shopping

It isn't August yet and stores are already having back to school sales. Remember when layaway was used for back to school shopping (and Christmas shopping)? I suppose this is the new version of that.

Mass producing education

This is a very interesting take on the mass production of education

Education Is Not Like Eating at the Olive Garden