Category: Resources

The Butterfly Effect: K-12 OER and Open Learning

Doctoral Student & Technology for Learning Specialist Editorial | By Verena Roberts

I was asked to work with Dr Connie Blomgren as a subject matter expert (SME) for the ABOER grant, Multiplying Open Educational Resources (OER) Impact: Building In-service Teacher OER Capacity for Graduate Credit. The goal of Butterfly Effectthe project was to create digital content in the form of podcasts and videos to support Athabasca University’s BOLT program. I was excited to be asked to contribute to such a project because of my passion around open learning. As an open learner, I strive to promote the sharing of ideas and resources to promote access to learning for all and to build knowledge around the world.

Lorenz’s butterfly effect about organizational leadership’s chaos theory asks, “‘Does the flap of a butterfly wing in Tokyo, affect a tornado in Texas (or a thunderstorm in New York)?” (Wheatley, 1992, p.117) I am intrigued with the idea that something as small and as fragile as a butterfly can have such a huge impact on the world. Continue reading “The Butterfly Effect: K-12 OER and Open Learning” →

A Walk in the Clouds (A Teacher’s Perspective on Cloud Computing)

Teacher Editorial | By Shelley Grey-Sortland (BOLT student)

Head in the Clouds
Cloud computing is one of the emerging education technologies that is impacting teachers and learners, inside and outside the classroom. But what is this ‘cloud’ anyway? Essentially, cloud computing means “storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive” (Griffith, 2016). The image below illustrates how a variety of devices can be used to access a myriad of applications on the cloud. So if you are using the Web to access your data or your programs then you are taking a walk in the clouds!

cloudcomputing
Title: Cloud Computing
Creator: Sam Johnston
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cloud_computing.svg
Copyright Information: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Continue reading “A Walk in the Clouds (A Teacher’s Perspective on Cloud Computing)” →