Popular eLearning Tools being used Today!

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Note:  all articles on this site are written by Jacqueline…

The goal of this article is to give a brief overview of some popular eLearning tools that I have used or have heard of.  First off, there are some great web resources that rate and compile eLearning technology, such as:

Top 100 eLearning Tools and

Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day

And here is my own short list of good eLearning choices:

Audacity:  is a digital audio editor and recording application that can be used to create podcasts.  It has a simple tool set that works well, and allows to you apply simple audio effects

 

Download audacity free here:

https://audacity.soureforge.net

And read a review here:

download.cnet.com/Audacity/3000-2170_4-10058117.html

SharePoint:  allows you to create a collaborative work environment and helps with communication between remote work groups.

Features include:

  • a shared workspace
  • a document management system
  • built-in customizable wiki & blog
  • lists and document libraries
  • built-in search functionality

Learn more about it here:

https://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Pages/Default.aspx

Articulate Presenter:  is a slide show tool that allows you to convert your PowerPoint presentations into an interactive Flash format.
Visit the Articulate site to learn more, and tune into the informative rapid eLearning blog hosted by Tom Kuhlmann.

https://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning

Adobe Captivate:  this is another screencasting tool similar to Camtasia Studio.  I have not personally used it, but the product does generally get good reviews.  Try it out at

https://www.adobe.com/products/captivate

and read a review here.

I would be interested to hear from readers who have used both Camtasia Studio and Adobe Captivate.  How do the two products compare?

Moodle:  is a free and open source “virtual learning environment” also known as an LMS or Learning Management System.  The environment is made up of different modules such as Assignment, Chats, Choices, Glossaries, Lessons, Quizzes and Surveys.

Learn more about it, and try out the demonstration site at:

https://moodle.org/about

Take note that the product needs to be installed on a web server, but there are some free Moodle hosting providers available such as www.keytoschool.com

Survey Monkey:  this is a free survey and questionnaire tool with good reviews.

Try it out at www.surveymonkey.com

Camtasia Studio:  I use this product to create online training videos, and show users how to do something that is easier to learn by watching, rather than reading.  This program is easy to use and you can render your video into various formats such as wmv and Flash.  You can also import audio and images, and add effects.

Try it out here:  https://www.techsmith.com

Jing:  this is a free screencasting tool also developed by TechSmith.  It is compatible for both Mac and Windows, and is ideal for quickly sharing vidoes online via the free hosting service www.techsmith.com/screencast.asp

Learn more about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jing_(software)

A Science Blogger Overview: Welcome to the Fascinating World of Marmorkrebs!

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Marmorkrebs1 copyWhile browsing through Twitter one day, I came across Dr. Zen Faulkes who is a scientist adept at using social media and blogging to communicate his research and ideas.

He is a Canadian researcher living in Texas doing behavioural research on the unusual crustacean creature, Marmorkrebs.  He is interested in the evolution of behaviour and nervous systems, and particularly the origin of new behaviours.  He uses Marmokrebs as his model organism for the following reasons.

  • They give lots of embryos year round, giving lots of research samples
  • They don’t need males to reproduce
  • They are good to use if you don’t have a lab set-up to maintain sea creatures
  • And, they are going to help Dr. Zen answer his evolutionary question:  why do crayfish have giant neurons that some other crustaceans don’t have (such as hermit crabs)?  (See his review paper: Faulkes, Z. (2008). Turning Loss Into Opportunity: The Key Deletion of an Escape Circuit in Decapod Crustaceans Brain, Behavior and Evolution, 72 (4), 251-261 DOI: 10.1159/000171488)

Marmorkrebs is an all-female species of marbled crayfish that reproduces asexually by parthenogenesis.

To learn more about his fascinating model organism, Marmorkrebs, visit this page:
https://marmorkrebs.org/

To learn more about parthenogenesis in general, check out this article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis

Please visit Dr. Zen’s faculty page to check out his many research articles.

https://www.utpa.edu/faculty/zfaulkes/


Visit Zen Faulkes on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/DoctorZen

Science Blogging 101 – How to Write About Science

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frog-2I don’t know how many of you like to blog about science, but here are some tips.  Writing a blog post on a scientific subject is a little different than most other types of posts.  You do have to state true facts, but yet you don’t want your post to sound like a formal journal article.  It can sometimes be challenging to strike a balance between fact and observation, but you do want to strive to offer your own insights when possible.

Here are a few tips:

  • You should try to give your own opinion on the subject when possible.
  • Take a look at the research from multiple sources; preferably at least a few from the primary literature.
  • Try to have something original to say about the subject, such as your own thoughts and observations.  Perhaps you have found conflicting information or discrepancies?  Perhaps you have observed a trend or pattern that hasn’t been mentioned?  There is nothing wrong with throwing it out there!
  • Aim to present and explain the research as clearly as possible.
  • The post should not be too long, and certainly not the length of a journal article.
  • Try to stay way from stating facts only.  Just summarize the facts, then expand on them, and offer your opinion.
  • Try to keep the language a bit on the informal side (but not too informal).
  • Give all links and other references used in the post.
  • If a picture helps readers understand a point, certainly use one, but try to keep it related.

Feel free to comment if you see anything missing, and I will add your comment to the list!

Ant Pheromone Trails….

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found it fascinating to sit and watch ants (especially when I was younger and I had more time).  I always wondered where it was they were trying to go, and how did they know where to go?

The physicist Richard Feynman had also observed ants, and he talks about them in his book “Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman!”  After conducting a few experiments, he concluded that the ants were following some sort of invisible trail, and that “when an ant has found some food, he leaves a much stronger trail than when he’s just wandering around.”  He also observed that the trail to the food becomes straighter as more ants follow it, and that it gradually “improves” over time.

The invisible trail is a pheromone trail:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ant

Ants communicate using pheromones that they lay down as trails, so that other ants can follow the trails to food sources.  The trail pheromone evaporates quickly so that when the food supply runs out, the ants know not to follow that trail anymore.

This article:

https://www.msoworld.com/brain/mag/2000/issue1/bpm1_9.html

states that ants exhibit a form of “positive feedback.”  Given the choice between two trails to a food source, over time the ants will prefer to follow the shorter one.  This is probably because ants on the shorter trail make more trips, and therefore lay down more pheromone so the pheromone on the shorter trail becomes stronger.

For more information on this topic, download this PDF entitled “Outsmarted by Ants” by Francis Ratnieks.

https://www.cs.unm.edu/~melaniem/courses/CAS09_files/Outsmarted.pdf