eduPirate

Demand-Driven Teaching on Twitter [#teach-me]

Posted on30. Mar, 2009 by Cap'n Ko.

If you haven’t read it yet, there’s a post on this over on the eduFire blog that’s very similar to this one, but I’m going to go into my own opinion a little bit more here on eduPirate.

The #teach-me Twitter revolution has been kicked off today, which I believe will be the first step towards “demand-driven” teaching, where the student asks to be taught something, and it’s easy for teachers to find them (or friends to refer good teachers). The first thing that’s making this all possible is the Internet. If it wasn’t for live video learning sites like eduFire, there would be no way for that Russian Underwater Basket Weaving master to get in contact with that student in Mexico who wants nothing more than to weave baskets and get his hands wet. Secondly, Twitter is becoming a widely used tool, and will be a great jumping off point for this revolution. Here’s how it works. [...]

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Teacher Welcome Messages: Myngle Walks the Plank

Posted on26. Feb, 2009 by Cap'n Ko.

When you read the title of this post, you probably think, “there’s no way this is in any way interesting.” I agree, but it gives me an excuse to show you one particular welcome message that looks like it was written after a little too much drinky drinky. Seriously, this is the most unbelievably unprofessional (even less professional than a pirate, yar!) welcome message you will ever see, and it’s after the jump. [...]

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Using Drop.io to Share Files with Your Students

Posted on24. Feb, 2009 by Cap'n Ko.

I absolutely love simple, technology-based solutions to simple, irritating problems. In this day and age, it doesn’t matter if you are an online or offline teacher. You’ll need to share files with your students via the net. One solution is to send e-mails out to you students, and attach the readings or handouts you want to get to them. The main problem with this, though, is that if you made a mistake, or want to add more files later, you have to send another e-mail with new files. If you’re teaching online, often times you won’t even have the option to attach files if you’re using the messaging system of an online learning site. Luckily, Drop.io solves most of these problems in a slick, simple interface. First, let’s go through a quick “how-to” on using Drop.io, and then we’ll talk about its implementation in the classroom. [...]

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