Apple Configurator

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Ian Aberle

One thing that might have been overlooked with all the excitement of yesterday’s New iPad was Apple’s release of the Apple Configurator.

The Apple Configurator will allow IT support staff (or just about anyone with multiple devices) to  mass configure and deploy iPhone, iPad, and even an iPod touch in a school, business, or institution. The only downside is it requires Mac OS X 10.7.2 or later. As many institutions have still to make the leap to Lion, this might be an issue.

If you’re ready to take the leap, you can download the Apple Configurator on the App Store now.

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Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education (Infographic)

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Ian Aberle

Justin Marquis Ph.D. of OnlineUniversities.com produced this excellent infographic on the Pros and Cons of Social Media in Education.

Surviving the College Dining Hall
Via: Online Universities Blog
Click the image for a larger version.

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The Gamification of Education (Infographic)

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Ian Aberle

Gamification [n]: the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.

Gamification has tremendous potential in the education space. How can we use it to deliver truly meaningful experiences to students? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Gamification of Education

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

 

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Freakonomics: Those Cheating Teachers!

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Ian Aberle

From Freakonomics.com:

This year alone has seen teacher-cheating scandals in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta, and elsewhere; in this week’s Times, Sharon Otterman reports how New York State is trying to curtail cheating and offers some specific instances of past cheating:

A charter school teacher warned her third graders that a standardized test question was “tricky,” and they all changed their answers. A high school coach in Brooklyn called a student into the hallway and slipped her a completed answer sheet in a newspaper. In the Bronx, a principal convened Finish Your Lab Days, where biology students ended up copying answers for work they never did.

Listen to the full podcast at Freakonomics.com

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Pearson Offers Free Learning Management System with OpenClass

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Ian Aberle

Pearson just announce they will be offering a completely free easy-to-use Learning Management System called OpenClass. According to the press release “OpenClass is a new kind of learning management system (LMS) delivered from the Cloud. It is easy to use and completely free. There are no hardware, licensing or hosting costs, thus enabling widespread adoption of new learning approaches that encourage interaction within the classroom and around the world.”

By harnessing the power of Google Apps for Education and providing the “support and feeding” they are able to offer the system completely free. When comparing it to other OpenSource software, Matt Leavy, CEO of Pearson eCollege, commented in an interview with APM, “It’s not a free beer, it’s a free puppy. You take it home you still have support cost for the puppy.” What makes OpenClass different, Leavy stated, “It is truly free. It is free. There are no hosting charges. There are no licensing charges.”

Hear the full Marketplace interview with Matt Leavy at Marketplace.org

“OpenClass has huge potential for higher education,” said Adrian Sannier, Senior Vice President of Learning Technologies at Pearson. “OpenClass accelerates what technology will do for learning with a free, open and innovative platform that easily scales and lets students work via social media, with an intense focus on learning that elevates achievement.”

Pearson created this video introduction to OpenClass:

Blackboard has it’s work cut out for it.

To find out more, visit the OpenClass Beta page at joinopenclass.com/

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What’s the Value of A For-Profit College Education?

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Ian Aberle

From NPR.org:

Lately, for-profit colleges like the University of Phoenix have been subject to scrutiny and new regulations for allegedly deceptive recruiting tactics and the high number of federal loan defaults among their students. Host Audie Cornish talks to Christopher Beha, who discreetly enrolled as a student at the University of Phoenix, and wrote about it in a piece in this month’s issue of Harper’s Magazine.

Listen to the full story at NPR.org.

Read the full article at Harpers.org.

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‘Cause everyone needs a little TLC

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Ian Aberle


This semester, in conjunction with the Central University Libraries (CUL), the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at SMU is soft launching the new Touch Learning Center or TLC. The Touch Learning Center provides space for faculty and students to test apps and to experiment with the touch environment. The TLC is:

  • A laboratory to explore the uses of touch computing in the classroom and to produce and/or present multimedia projects, for example, staff training videos, conference presentations, etc.
  • A classroom for faculty to teach classes using the TLC’s technology and to allow users to learn about touch computing devices.
  • A place for student, faculty and staff interaction within the touch environment


The TLC aims to educate students, staff, and faculty about and to familiarize them with the emerging mobile world using short courses and individual consultation. As the mobile world changes and as the needs of our users change, the TLC will change with them. Currently, the facility is equipped with 15 iPad 2 units, a 70″ LED display, a specialized iPad charging and syncing cart with a 13″ Macbook Pro to manage iPads simultaneously, and an Apple TV which will allow wireless connectivity from an iPad to the TV in the near future.

If you are interested in reserving the space or want to know more, please contact the TLC Manager, Tyeson Seale at tseale@smu.edu or 214-768-4584.

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Academic Technology is on the move!

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Ian Aberle

Actually, it’s more like “We’re Moving!”

Over this summer Academic Technology, the Faculty Media Lab, and the SMU STAR Program will be moving to our new location in Fondren Library East. Not only will we be in a more visible location in the Information Commons, but will will be sharing space and resources with the Student Multimedia Center and the new Mobile Learning Lab.

Great things are happening. Check back soon for further news.

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New Opportunities for Detecting and Preventing Plagiarism

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Ian Aberle

FemaleStudentStudying.jpgAs we begin this new semester, we also begin a period of learning the writing styles of our new students. During this time, some of our more tech savvy and ethically-challenged students may take this opportunity to sneak one or two things by us. Then again, some might not even know they are doing it or that it’s even wrong… Though, they should have taken the Academic Honesty Tutorial by now.

To help with this, Richard Byrne, author of the Free Technology for Teachers blog has put together 7 Resources for Detecting and Preventing Plagiarism.

The first thing I do when I want to check a student’s work for plagiarism is to do a quick search on Google. If you notice that a student has strung together some phrases that you don’t think they’ve written, put the suspected phrase inside quotation marks and search. You may want to search on Google as well as on Google Scholar.

Richard Bryne also suggest using Plagiarism Checker, a web tool created as a project for the University of Maryland, an easy-to-use site for detecting plagiarism. Other free services are also highlighted. You can read the full list of 7 Resources for Detecting and Preventing Plagiarism on his blog, Free Technology for Teachers, at freetech4teachers.com.

I would also like to remind you about the availability of SafeAssign by BlackBoard. SafeAssign is a free plagiarism prevention tool integrated with Blackboard, our Learning Management System. SafeAssign does have some limitations that makes using it not as intuitive as just typing something into Google. If you need help, our would like to learn more, please contact Steve Snider, our Learning Management System Specialist.

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The Future of Textbooks is in Using a Tablet

Posted on January 5, 2010 by Ian Aberle

tabletWith all the rumors of an Apple branded tablet device, some textbook publishers have produced a demo video of how they would like to use the device. The video is created by Coursesmart, a joint venture of five textbook publishers and the makers of the “eTextbooks for the iPhone” App [iTunes link], and demonstrates how students might use tablet-based textbooks. Of course, as no one has seen the famed Apple Tablet or iSlate, everything is based on Coursesmart’s renderings and not any specific applications being developed in conjunction with Apple.

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