CITations will cease being updated here. Educational technology news, views and reviews will continue on Blog.nus.
Please update your bookmarks!
If you subscribe to the feed, please resubscribe using http://blog.nus.edu.sg/feed/.
Here's a demonstration of one of CIT's new services - the online mindmapping tool.
To use it, you will have to register here.
The embed doesn't come out quite right by default. You'll have to change the Height variables (there are three height variables in the embed code) from '100%' to a number. I used a height of 400 to get the mindmap below. In simple terms, I replaced '100%' with '400'.
You can change the width variables too, but it seems the default needs something larger than 500 (the width of the posts here) as you can see below.
It has been a busy semester break for CIT. Today, being the first day of the new Academic Year, we would like to announce the soft launch of Blog.nus, Wiki.nus and the Online Mindmapping Tool.
Blog.nus Access | More information
Blog.nus is a new blogging platform for NUS staff and students. Those who want to create a blog for academic, educational, research and administrative use can do so at Blog.nus. Of course, if you want a personal blog, there are many free services such as Blogger and WordPress.com instead.
Speaking of WordPress, Blog.nus runs on it. If you have used a WordPress blog (or most other blogs, for that matter), you will be able to use Blog.nus without a cinch. In fact, Blog.nus has several advantages, such as the ability to embed a wider range of content than the regular WordPress blogs. Also, there is a lot more storage capacity, more themes to choose from and more privacy options - stuff that's important to educators.
If you have any queries about Blog.nus, please contact Mr .
Wiki.nus Access | More information
Wiki.nus is our very own wiki platform for NUS staff and students. If you've ever required a wiki for collaboration, knowledgebase building or other educational purposes, Wiki.nus is your solution. Wiki.nus is powered by Confluence and hosted on our servers. It is single sign-on enabled, so you can sign in and create a wiki immediately in a few steps.
Wikis can be set to different levels of privacy e.g.
- Public access, public editing
- Public access, restricted editing (probably the most common model)
- Restricted access, restricted editing (excellent for collaboration)
If you have any queries about Wiki.nus, please contact Mr .
Online Mindmapping Tool Access | More information
Finally, we have our very own online mindmapping tool, powered by Mindomo. This allows staff and students to create and share mindmaps online.
Mindmap software allows you to do something that cannot be done with paper - editing the mindmap. You can also embed the mindmap in a web page or blog.
If you have any queries about the Online Mindmapping Tool, please contact Mr .
Stephen Downes and his guest author (who's handling the blog while Downes is on vacation), highlighted two e-books which may be of interest to educators who want to incorporate technology in their lessons.
The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd Ed.). Editied by Terry Anderson. Athabasca University Press.
Available under a Creative Commons by-nc-nd 2.5 license.
Together, the two books cover a wide range of issues in educational technology. Quite coincidentally, the two books add up to 1,000 pages to sink your teeth into.
That's quite a bit to read on screen, so CIT has requested that The Theory and Practice of Online Learning (2nd Ed.) be made available in the Central Library. We will also look into requesting a copy of Education for a Digital World.
Regular visitors to the CIT website may have noticed that the popular Software Resources section went missing some time back.
Well, it's back as Software Tips! We've gathered some oft-used software titles and put them on one page for easy reference.
This revamped section now features more software titles, particularly Open Source and freeware alternatives. We've also highlighted software for Mac and Linux too.
Now, I'll try to lay out cost concerns simply.
Software under Campus Licence
If you are an NUS staff member and you want to install software which falls under a Campus License, you can download it from the Software Catalogue. You'll have to install and run the client if you haven't done so already.
Software in the Catalogue but not under a Campus License
If you require software that is in the Software Catalogue but only available on a per-seat basis, you will have to get your department to purchase it. More details can be found on Computer Centre's Software page, under Guide to University's Software Catalogue.
Software not in the Catalogue
If the software you require is not in the Software Catalogue, you will have to purchase the license directly from the software vendor/distributor. Please follow the University's procurement procedures.
Free and Open Source Software
If you are sure that the software license allows you to install and use the software without payment, just go ahead! It's nice to donate out of your own pocket to the developer, if they request a donation for use of the respective titles. Also, do note that developers can start charging for a previously free product. It's always best to archive the installation file of the latest free version.
Autodesk, the 2-D and 3-D design software firm, introduces the Autodesk Student Community. The highlight is that students can download full versions of software such as AutoCAD, Alias Studio and Revit Architecture. The software is provided under a 14-month watermark license.
Besides access to free software, students who join the community get to:
If you are an architecture, design or engineering student, you might want to take advantage of this community. Faculty staff can join too.
Check it out at: http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity
There are a few books about blogs in NUS Libraries. Most of them deal with either personal blogging or business blogging. Yes, blogs are being used in public/customer/corporate relations and in marketing. However, I couldn't find any books on blogging in education, which surprised me because we are an institution of higher learning.
To rectify this anomaly, I sent a request to purchase new books. I'd never used this service before, so I wasn't sure what the outcome was going to be. I was pleasantly surprised when the library notified me that the book I requested was available in the Central Library. Kudos to the librarians in NUS!
Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms looks to be an easy read. Just skimming through, I can see that Will Richardson explains new concepts in plain language. He gives a quick overview of each tool, goes through how to set it up and shows how they can be used in the classroom. Although many examples are from the K-12 (primary and secondary school) environment, I believe the concepts are applicable to higher education. The content page gives you some idea of what Will touches on:
I see that there's already a request for the book. Better make use of the upcoming long weekend to read this and return it to the library so that others can get their hands on it! Oh yes, the call number: LB 1044.87 Ric 2006.
P.S. Some of the links mentioned in the book can be found at Will's wiki. It's too tedious to copy URLs from a print source.
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to CITations in the Announcements category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Blogging Possibilities is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.