Conceptboard
Various Authors, Website, June 12, 2012.

I spent some time playing around with a service called Conceptboard. Introducing it in an email, Kathleen Fritzsche writes, Conceptboard offers a blank work space (like an online whiteboard) on which you can create, review and discuss your ideas and concepts. Furthermore, you can upload any document (e.g. PDF, PPT, Word docs, images) to work on it. Or you just start to scribble." It supports both live collaboration (up to five guest collaborators in the free plan) and asynchronous access. It would work well with an audio conference. You can access the demo board illustrated above by clicking here.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Audio]

How to start an amazing class blog
Meredith, Learnboost, June 12, 2012.

Good instructional post describing how to set up and run a class blog. I like the approach: to the people that say they have too many administrative tasks, the response is that the blog is the answer, not the problem. "Putting more administrative tasks online means teachers have more time to spend with students, creating engaging lessons, and connecting with parents and students." I would like to have seen the post go beyond the introduction of the blogging tools and offer specific advice on how to manage each administrative task online. It would have been easy, especially in the context of Learnboost, which offers a gradebook, lesson plans, parent interactions, and interoperability with Google apps.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Interaction, Web Logs, Interoperability, Google]

Plymouth Enhanced Learning Conference (PELeCON) 2012
Matt Lingard, et. al. , ALT Online Newsletter, June 12, 2012.

Multi-author summary with links to a lot of resources of the 7th Plymouth Enhanced Learning Conference. Highlights include: David Mitchell and Julia Skinner talking about introducing blogging to students using QuadBlogging to connect children around the world; Alec Couros on the power of documenting our learning; and Keri Facer on Future Building, which she defined as “looking for the seeds of desirable futures that exist in the present; nurturing these possibilities; recognising complexity; and working to 'tip the balance'." The post also includes additional summary articles by Farzana Latif and Santanu Vasant.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Web Logs]

Using Blackboard Collaborate 11 to deliver a global online conference
Simon Kear, ALT Online Newsletter, June 12, 2012.

I took part in this conference as a commentator and found it to be well-organized. This post outlines the use of Blackboard's Collaborate synchronous conferencing environment to host the event. There's some good behind-the-scenes discussion about collecting registration forms in Google Spreadhseet and uploading into Collaborate's Session Administration System (SAS).

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Conferencing, Blackboard Inc., Google]