Fabulous Friday Following

Just a few things for you to look out for on this Friday, October 10...I'll try to help you see the forest through the trees.

MoodleMoot New Zealand 2008 just ended, but you can stream some very fresh information reported on twitter nicely via hashtag #mmnz08 (ie: what's up with Moodle 2.0, what Martin Dougiamas recommends Moodle communities should invest in, issues involving students identity management, etc). It's worth a moment of your Friday time, especially if you are a Moodle administrator. If you get especially curious and want to go more indepth, follow my shared Moodle feeds here to see aggregated Moodle tweets from throughout Twitter alongside recent blog posts by attendees.

The Twitter 20 is an effort by Jay Baer to conduct real time, '20 question' interviews of 20 influential Twitter stars. It happens this morning, follow it live, if you dare ;-). I think this would be interesting for those of us who are looking at educational possibilities of microblogging or uses of twitter for learning. I love how the format is presented...

140 character questions (x20).
140 character answers.
In real-time.
On Twitter.

I'll be with Melody and Kerry as we try to persuade folks at the Community College Roundup to try out Everybody's Business. We look forward to expanding users across campuses to widen the institutional knowledge community.

I realize these are all random weak-tie-style connections to Moodle, Twitter and Higher Ed Social Networking... maybe you'll find something here for you. If not, stay tuned. Next week I will be with some amazing colleagues at the New Mexico Technology in Education Conference and chatting up all sorts of things from Moodle to Adobe Connect to Professional Development Ecosystems to Web 2.0. And yes, there will mobile blogging and probably even a Twitter hashtag, #NMTIE08? any other suggestions?

Have an amazing-super-fabulous-glimmering Friday!

Give one XO to a child in a developing country, Get one for a child in your own life

I have not once regretted following Julz lead and participating in the G1G1 of 07, and I've been delighted with my daughter's XO. This Sugar Linux machine has been designed for children to practice and develop/program their own technology adventures. Since our XO came in January, many people have asked how to get one of these machines...and now you can!

Amazon will handle the Give one, Get one program this year, still at the amazingly bargain price of $399. So check it out, and consider connecting a young person in your life with 'gen XO' kids around the world.

Moodle Webinars On Demand, Wikis in the Classroom Coming Up

Thank you to the fabulous educators who came out the past two Mondays. We had some great conversations and excellent ideas shared on how teachers can use Moodle in their classrooms. To access the recordings for Show me the Moodle and Introduction to Moodle on demand, visit the NMSU Webinars site. Don't forget the collection of resources for each event, where you can see the chat log and access other cool stuff.

Hope you can join the superbly talented presenter and model RETAzen, Bethany Bovard, for

Webinar Event: Wikis in the Classroom I

Date: Monday, October 6, 2008

Time: 6:00-7:00 pm MST

Description:
Wikis are extremely useful tools for doing everything from helping you easily create web sites to providing your students with an engaging collaborative workspace. Yet, choosing the right wiki from among all those available can be quite challenging and time-consuming. In this webinar, you will explore a few different wikis and learn how to choose a wiki that's appropriate to your class needs.

TO ATTEND:
Please use the following link to attend the webinar:
http://nmsu.na3.acrobat.com/wikis1fa08

Plan to join us 15-20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate, speakers are required. A simple computer microphone and/or a headset is ideal for interaction. A webcam is optional.

If you have never used Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at: Adobe Acrobat Pro Support Center
https://admin.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

For complete information on this and all of our webinars visit us at:
http://webinars.nmsu.edu or contact us at webinars@nmsu.edu or call 575.646.6143.

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning
Quotient) with us!

Interested in Moodle? Show me the Moodle Webinar Monday

See how easy it can be to create interactive learning environment using Moodle and hear what teachers are doing with it.

Please join me Monday for...

Webinar Event: Show Me the Moodle

Date & Time: Monday, Sept. 29,2008 6:00-7:00 pm MST

Presenter: Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Description:
Find out how teachers use Moodle in their classrooms and see how easy it is to create an online classroom environment. Participants will discuss ideas for integrating Moodle in the classroom and other learning situations.

To attend:
Please use the following link to attend the webinar:
http://nmsu.na3.acrobat.com/moodle2fa08. Plan to join us 15-20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate speakers are required. A simple computer microphone and/or headset is ideal for interaction. A webcam is optional. If you have never used Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at:
Adobe Acrobat Pro Support Center
https://admin.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

For complete information on this and all of our webinars visit us at: http://webinars.nmsu.edu. If you have questions or need tech assistance, please contact Cissy Lujan-Pincomb or Miley Grandjean at webinars@nmsu.edu

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning Quotient) with us!

RETA Webinar Team

Intro to Moodle Webinar this Monday

What is Moodle and why would you want to use it? Who is using it in New Mexico? What does a a school district need to run Moodle?


Please join me for a revamped version of my Introduction to Moodle webinar. I'll be sharing the basics, as described below, and promoting the resources at our super cool OTL wiki (http://reta-otl.pbwiki.com) where you can learn about Moodle 'til your mouse is content.

RETA would like to invite you to our NEXT professional development
webinar in our eLearning with Emerging Technology Series.

Webinar Event: Introduction to Moodle

Presenter: Holly Rae Bemis-Schurtz

Date & Time: Monday, Sept. 22,2008 6:00-7:00 pm MST

Description:

Moodle is an open source course management system used by educators around the world. Created by Martin Dougiamas to support social constructivism,Moodle provides flexibility and autonomy for districts and teachers while supporting a wide variety of interactive social learning tools. In this session you will learn more about what Moodle can do and find out what infrastructure is needed for districts, schools, and teachers need to access this powerful toolset. To attend: Please use the
following link to attend the webinar:
http://nmsu.na3.acrobat.com/moodle1fa08.

Plan to join us 15-20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer. To participate speakers are required. A simple computer microphone and/or headset is ideal for interaction. A webcam is optional. If you have never used Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at: Adobe Acrobat Pro Support Center http://www.adobe.com/support/connect.

For complete information on this and all of our webinars visit us at:
http://webinars.nmsu.edu. If you have questions or need tech assistance,please contact Cissy Lujan-Pincomb or Miley Grandjean at webinars@nmsu.edu or call 575.646.6143

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ (eLearning Quotient) with us!

RETA Webinar Team

RETA (Regional Educational Technology Assistance)
College of Extended Learning
New Mexico State University
http://reta.nmsu.edu

See you then!