[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #114: Back to School Edition

[Bobbi Galvin]

*OPLIN 4Cast #114:
Back to School Edition
*August 20, 2008

1. It's back to school time!  Let's all learn something new online!

    * 20+ Video Tutorials for Open Source Applications
      <http://mashable.com/2008/07/30/video-tutorials-for-open-source-applications/>
    * 100 Awesome Classroom Videos to Learn New Teaching Techniques
      <http://www.smartteaching.org/blog/2008/08/100-awesome-classroom-videos-to-learn-new-teaching-techniques/>
    * 8 Minute Video on the Social Media Classroom
      <http://www.smartmobs.com/2008/08/19/8-minute-video-on-the-social-media-classroom/>
    * 10 Video Tutorials for Learning Basic Web Design Skills
      <http://mashable.com/2008/06/12/web-design-tutorials/>

2. Information is no longer locked in the pages of books.  It's 
dispersed widely and freely.  So why are schools still using expensive 
textbooks?

    * Management Professor Uses 'Crowdsourcing' to Write Textbook
      <http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=3248&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en>
    * Battling pricy textbooks with open-source texts, social media
      <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080820-battling-pricy-textbooks-with-open-source-texts-social-media.html>
    * Open-source textbooks
      <http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/thereader/2008/08/opensource_textbooks.html>
    * Free digital texts begin to challenge costly college textbooks in
      California
      <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-textbook18-2008aug18,0,4712858.story>

3. Teachers and librarians are in constant competition with Google to 
provide their students with reliable sources.  How can you even begin to 
teach the hyper-connected Google Generation?

    * How the Google generation thinks differently
      <http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4295414.ece>
    * What Your Frosh Know (and Don't)
      <http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/19/mindset>
    * Plagiarism and Google generation under spotlight
      <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jun/19/news.highereducation>
    * The Google generation represents a fundamental threat to
      university education as we know it.
      <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/public_sector/article4091351.ece>

4. There are 14.2 million computers 
<http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/>available for classroom use in 
US schools as of the 2005-2006 school year (and that was two years 
ago).  That works out to at least one computer for every four students.

    * Back to School: Technology
      <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/08/05/DI2008080502345.html>
    * Going Back to School: Picking Up Where Facebook Left Off
      <http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/05/going-back-to-school-picking-up-where-facebook-left-off/>
    * Easy as ABC: Web apps for students
      <http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10005482-2.html?hhTest=1&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Webware>
    * Back-to-school laptop report card
      <http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2008/08/18/back-to-school-laptop-report-card/>

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-- 
Bobbi Galvin
OPLIN Customer Relations & Support
1-888-966-7546

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