Google Wave is a web-based application that represents a rethinking of electronic communication. Users create online spaces called “waves,” which include multiple discrete messages and components that constitute a running, conversational document. Users access waves through the web, resulting in a model of communication in which rather than sending separate copies of multiple messages to different people, the content resides in a single space. Wave offers a compelling platform for personal learning environments because it provides a single location for collecting information from diverse sources while accommodating a variety of formats, and it makes interactive coursework a possibility for nontechnical students. Wave challenges us to reevaluate how communication is done, stored, and shared between two or more people.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutGoogl/188963

RadioJames Objectives Builder is an online, web-interface tool that instructors can use to help them compose a list of course objectives. It follows the concept of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Link: http://www.radiojames.com/ObjectivesBuilder/

TeraGrid is an open scientific discovery infrastructure combining leadership class resources at eleven partner sites to create an integrated, persistent computational resource.

Using high-performance network connections, the TeraGrid integrates high-performance computers, data resources and tools, and high-end experimental facilities around the country. Currently, TeraGrid resources include more than a petaflop of computing capability and more than 30 petabytes of online and archival data storage, with rapid access and retrieval over high-performance networks. Researchers can also access more than 100 discipline-specific databases. With this combination of resources, the TeraGrid is the world’s largest, most comprehensive distributed cyberinfrastructure for open scientific research.

This tool is provided free of charge for all researchers at a US academic or non-profit institution.

Link: http://www.teragrid.org/
Link: http://chronicle.com/article/Your-College-Gets-a/47957/

Here are some additional links with information about digital storytelling:

Tips for Better Digital Storytelling by NewBay Media

Digital storytelling has become an important strategy for educators to use to help students improve writing and thinking skills. Here are tips that will take the process one step farther so that teachers can help students make their stories the best that they can be.
Link: http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/technology_…

Center for Digital Storytelling

The Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS) is an international non-profit training, project development, and research organization dedicated to assisting people in using digital media to tell meaningful stories from their lives. Our focus is on partnering with community, educational, and business institutions to develop large-scale initiatives using methods and principles adapted from our original Digital Storytelling Workshop. We also offer workshops for organizations and individuals and serve as a clearinghouse of information and resources about storytelling and new media.
Over the last fifteen years our work has spanned the globe, as reflected on these maps showing the distribution of our work in the United States and Canada and around the world.
Link: http://storycenter.org/

Story Circles by the Center for Digital Storytelling

Story Circles is a place where you can upload your own digital stories and watch other people’s creations. It is similar to YouTube, but geared at digital storytelling.
Link: http://storycircles.org/

Movies-Door-2-Door.Com: How Accounting Helped Make the Difference by Singapore Management University

One of the greatest challenges when teaching accounting is to help students see the relevance and value of the course content for their future careers. Many students, especially those not pursuing an accounting degree, approach any accounting course with trepidation and doubt whether the materials will ever personally affect them. Furthermore, the lack of a solid understanding of business concepts often cause students to struggle with mastering the technical accounting content. Accounting is often presented in a proper theoretical order, but this is inconsistent with the way business owners and managers face in the business world, from formulating a business plan, sourcing finances and funding, implementing the plan and monitoring results.
Movies-Door2Door.com is intended to be a supplementary resource in an introductory accounting course, at the undergraduate or graduate level. The issues are presented in the logical order of an entrepreneurial endeavour and may jump across theoretical coverage in a typical accounting course.
Link: http://www.research.smu.edu.sg/faculty/MD2D/

The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling by University of Houston
Digital Storytelling is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories. As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips and/or music. Digital stories can vary in length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between two and ten minutes. And the topics that are used in Digital Storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life in one’s own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between. A great way to begin learning about Digital Storytelling is by watching the video at the link below.
Link: http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

Xtra Normal

Xtranormal’s mission is to bring movie-making to the people. Everyone watches movies and we believe everyone can make movies. Movie-making, short and long, online and on-screen, private and public, will be the most important communications process of the 21st century.
Link: http://www.xtranormal.com/

Capturing Stories, Capturing Lives: An Introduction to Digital Storytelling
David Jakes

Digital storytelling provides a truly engaging learning experience which blends writing, technology and emotion to create a compelling product of value. This process [explained in the article] is one that students can use throughout entire lives to tell their stories. Many Web sites are now beginning to accept video submissions; will our students in second grade eventually be submitting digital letters to the editor? Time will tell, but in the meantime, the process of digital storytelling provides one of the best learning experiences available to students.

Link: http://www.jakesonline.org/dstory_ice.pdf

Digital storytelling involves combining narrative with digital content to create a short movie. Digital stories can include interactive movies with highly produced audio and visual effects or presentation slides with narration or music. Some learning theorists believe that as a pedagogical technique, storytelling can be effectively applied to nearly any subject. Constructing a narrative and communicating it effectively require one to think carefully about the topic and the audience’s perspective.

Link: http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutDigit/156824

The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. The principal objectives of the WDL are to:

• Promote international and intercultural understanding;
• Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;
• Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
• Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.

The WDL makes it possible to discover, study, and enjoy cultural treasures from around the world on one site, in a variety of ways. These cultural treasures include, but are not limited to, manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.

Items on the WDL may easily be browsed by place, time, topic, type of item, and contributing institution, or can be located by an open-ended search, in several languages. Special features include interactive geographic clusters, a timeline, advanced image-viewing and interpretive capabilities. Item-level descriptions and interviews with curators about featured items provide additional information.

Navigation tools and content descriptions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Many more languages are represented in the actual books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other primary materials, which are provided in their original languages.

The WDL was developed by a team at the U.S. Library of Congress, with contributions by partner institutions in many countries; the support of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the financial support of a number of companies and private foundations.

Link: http://www.wdl.org/en/

Internet Literacy Handbook
TL InfoBits

The Internet Literacy Handbook, compiled by Janice Richardson et al., was updated in December 2008. This third edition, aimed at parents, teachers, and students, contains a collection of Fact Sheets that provide brief, basic introductory explanations for a variety of Internet tools such as portals, email, social networks, and blogs. The Handbook is available at no cost online in HTML, Flash, or RTF formats, or it can be purchased in a hardcopy version. Access the Internet Literacy Handbook.

The Handbook is published by the Council of Europe, an organization of 47 member countries working to “promote awareness and encourage the development of Europe’s cultural identity and diversity.” For more information, contact: Council of Europe, Avenue de l’Europe, 67075 Strasbourg Cedex, France; tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 20 00; email: infopoint@coe.int; Web: http://www.coe.int/

Link: https://its.unc.edu/TeachingAndLearning/publications/tlinfobits/CCM3_007214#4

Screencast-o-Matic and ScreenToaster are screen capturing utilities that are based on Java and other web-technologies. That means that they can be used from any computer with a Java-enabled browser. Jing is another example of such a tool that can be installed on both Max OSX and Windows.

Screen capturing utilities are most commonly used for narrating over visuals, creating screen casts and tutorials, and sharing them.

Link: http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Link: http://www.screentoaster.com/
Link: http://www.jingproject.com/

AcademicInfo is an online education resource center with extensive subject guides and distance learning information. Its mission is to provide free, independent and accurate information and resources for prospective and current students (and other researchers). Faculty and students may find it useful as they start researching new areas of focus.

Link: http://www.academicinfo.net/