Sharing the Knowledge by Linking

As I spend more time blogging in addition to online reading and studying, I'm finding there is a great deal out there about education and online learning. There are several blogs on blogger.com that discuss online learning. I thought I'd share here in my blog a few links to some of the ones that I found particularly interesting. Let me know what you think.

• Breaking Barriers of Time and Space
  
• Students Loading Lectures on IPODs--Associated Press>
  
• BBC Interactive Service Spreads the Word

I'm also learning how to make blogs more interesting. One of the students (Minnie) in the class I'm taking suggested adding animations to blogs. I liked her idea, but had no idea how to do it. So I did some Internet research and found andreas.com where there's a good web page with info (http://www.andreas.com/faq-animate.html). And then I tried it. What do you think? Does this lava lamp work? (I won't be able to tell until I publish, so here goes...)

If blogging is educational to you. . .

In working on an assignment for a class I'm taking online, I had to see if I could come up with any ideas for "tricking out a blog." It crossed my mind that adding audio files might be a good way, and since President Bush gave his State of the Union Address last night, I looked for something relevant and found a link to his 2003 State of the Union Address. So I thought I'd share it with you.

Click the photo to listen. The photo above is from: www.voanews.com

Learning from Space

When most people, myself included, think about online learning, the thought goes towards courses developed by professionals that are designed to teach. Many even teach you to think. But as I was reading blogs today, I ran across one that's a good example of online learning that isn't part of an actual course. This one is out of this world.

If you click the link I've provided, you'll be accessing a lesson on relativity that is straight from outer space. Really! Expedition 7's NASA ISS Science Officer, Ed Lu, is blogging from the space station, and he spent one of his blogs talking about relativity and what it means to his current position in space.

He even talks about his own experiment that he did using a square of thin silvery reflective film. It's not an experiment that most people on earth could perform. The best part about it, is that I learned something, and I wasn't even trying.

Is online education a real education?

In reading blogs, website, emails, etc., I've seen opposite opinions about online education. Some people want much more of it and believe it's a great way to learn, and not just because it's anytime/anwhere. Others think the quality of online courses and online education just isn't there. Some even go so far as to say that a degree obtained through online education isn't worth anything. What's your belief about online education and its value? Do you lean one way or the other, or hold a completely different opinion?