Many university students are using new technology to catch up on missed lectures.

FIRST-YEAR tertiary students are spending less time on campus and more time online, as podcasts of lectures become increasingly common.

Three out of four students use podcasts of lectures and a third believe online lecture materials can be a replacement for attending classes, according to the nationwide survey of 2422 first-year students by the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne.

iPhone apps are all the rage and educators are not left out of the good times. Here are a range of great iPhone/iPod touch apps for teachers and students.

• Top 50 iPhone apps for Educators
• iPhone/iPod apps for education

The Apple Learning Interchange has some pointers as well, and a bonus on photography on the iPhone

Complexity Fail from John on Vimeo.

I wonder how they managed to do this with a straight face?

Some very interesting points, elequently presented here:

Steve Jobs presenting

When Steve Jobs takes the stage for a keynote presentaiton you can expect a highly polished and engaging experience. But what is it that makes it so?

Carmine Gallo is a communications skills coach and has written a new book “The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be insanely great in front of any audience“.

This stuff is important for educators we are more often required to speak not only to students, but parents, administrators etc etc. These skills are incredibly valuable and become a key assett in communicating your message.

You can read a summary of the book on Business week.

But here are the main points:

• Have a concise headline
• Have a villain
• Have a simple slide
• Have a demo
• Have a ‘holy smokes’ moment
• Sell dreams

Here’s a video of the author speakling about this new book:

via Business Week

Picture book maker from the UK’s artisancam is a exciting flash based picture book amker which a wide range of students (and teachers) can engage with. It comes with a wide variety iof sketched images with which you can illustrate your story. Great as a prompter or as a stimulas for childrens writing. You can view the finished book on-screen or print it out.

An excellent resource for a quick activity or a longer project.

Check it out at:
http://www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/picturebookmaker/picturebookmaker.php

Via Lynne (thanks!)

A recent book titled New Learning – Elements of a Science of Education offers some interesting viewpoints:

Education in all its aspects is in a moment of change, or transition. The idea of ‘New Learning’ contrasts what education has been like in the past with the changes we are experiencing today, and an imaginative view of the possible features of learning environments in the near future. What will learning be like, and what will teachers’ jobs be like?In order to build a view of what’s happening in education today, we need a broader view of learning – of what people need to know and do in the contemporary world outside the walls of formal educational institutions.

Here are eight dimensions of learning today that may prompt us to formulate a theory and practice of New Learning.

Mary Kalantzis
Bill Cope

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign