Echo360 Embeds Rich Media Instruction Into Open-Source Moodle LMS

DULLES, VA, Sep 06, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Echo360, the global leader in campus-wide blended learning and lecture capture solutions, today announced the availability of a new integration for institutions using the open-source learning management system Moodle. Instructors can now easily and safely disseminate video and multimedia course materials created with the EchoSystem to their students. This integration further extends EchoSystem interoperability for higher education institutions using Moodle 1.9 and 2.0.

Colleges and universities deploy Echo360 technology to enrich the blended course experience thereby driving distance learning initiatives, improving graduation rates and retaining more students. The integration makes the EchoCenter portal an embeddable component within Moodle course pages. Students access their Echo360 course content in the EchoCenter while instructors assess learner progress, engagement and usage with custom metrics. Using this integration, these capabilities are available within the already familiar Moodle environment.

Echo360 partnered with leading educational technology and services organization, NetSpot, to develop the integration. NetSpot offers managed hosting for various e-learning systems across Australasia including Moodle for over 600,000 users from institutions such as University of Canberra and LaTrobe University.

NetSpot Managing Director Allan Christie said, "The Echo360 Moodle integration was developed with support and feedback from the Moodle community. The integration makes it more efficient to manage rich media recordings in large-scale environments. NetSpot is proud to work collaboratively again with Echo360 to deliver another premium product for the education sector."

The Echo360 Moodle integration is highly secure for institutions and instructors. It leverages Trusted System Authentication, or seamless login, into Moodle. This solution ensures that each viewer has permission to access the instructor's lecture content.

"Many institutions choose Moodle because of its flexibility for instructors. The Echo360 Moodle integration embraces this approach," said Fred Singer, CEO of Echo360. "Instructors are in the best position to decide how to leverage their lecture content. By embedding the EchoCenter into Moodle, instructors retain this control while gaining more information about when and how students engage with rich media to improve the learning experience."

The Echo360 Moodle integration is available now and free for all Echo360 customers. EchoSystem 4.0 supports content sharing with other popular systems, including Blackboard(R) Learn(R), iTunesU, and ANGEL, as well as media distribution options via RSS feeds and email.

About NetSpot NetSpot Pty Ltd (ABN 50 083 417 403) is an eLearning technology services partner to the education sector in Australasia. NetSpot provides AARNet-based managed hosting for various eLearning Systems including Moodle for over 600,000 users. NetSpot is an official Moodle Partner in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, an official Echo360 hosting partner in Australia and a Mahara (ePortfolio) Partner.

About Echo360 As a global leader in blended learning and lecture capture solutions, Echo360 helps higher education institutions keep pace with modern students' learning needs through products that digitally record and upload learning content. Echo360 has been recognized with a Product Line Strategy of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan and named a Visionary Vendor in Educational Technology by IT research firm Basex. Echo360's products facilitate better instruction, lower costs and enrich learning experiences by enabling students to easily access and share multimedia content. Through Echo360's platform, students can replay recorded sessions and review course information online at their convenience and across various devices. More than 400 colleges and universities in 29 countries use Echo360's solution.

Original Link : http://www.marketwatch.com/story/echo360-embeds-rich-media-instruction-into-open-source-moodle-lms-2011-09-06

Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods

Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods builds on EDC’s extensive international and domestic experience in the field of distance education and gathers research and lessons learned from numerous programs in over 100 nations and territories to help distance education policymakers, planners and designers develop distance education systems focused on producing high-quality teachers.

Whether upgrading “un-trained” teachers’ existing skills, providing teachers with enrichment or continuing education opportunities or helping teachers gain advanced degrees or certification, nations across the globe are increasingly turning to distance education as a convenient, flexible and multimodal avenue for teacher education. Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods builds on EDC’s extensive international and domestic experience in the field of distance education and gathers research and lessons learned from numerous programs in over 100 nations and territories to help distance education policymakers, planners and designers develop distance education systems focused on producing high-quality teachers.

Distance Education for Teacher Training: Modes, Models, and Methods focuses on the following areas:

• modes of distance education—types of distance-based delivery systems and their strengths and weaknesses from print to digital gaming to online learning to mobile technologies
• models of distance education for teacher training programs—actual examples of various programs from each continent
• methods or best practices necessary to develop a high-quality distance education program

Unlike most distance-education books, this guide focuses less on policy and funding, and almost exclusively on building high-quality teaching and learning within a distance-based system. With over 200 web references to existing programs and technology tools; an annotated reference section of distance-based resources; and an extensive glossary of terms and bibliography, this guide is a valuable resource for those interested in not just distance education but technology and professional development.

Download E-Book

ninhao mLearning App Now Available for All Apple Mobile Devices for On-The-Go Chinese Learning

The leader in Chinese online learning, ninhao, is now bringing the same convenience and ease of learning Chinese to mobile devices with the release of the new ninhao mLearning app.
iPad, iPhone and iPod users can now all experience the same elegant and economical ease of learning Chinese. Available for download on the iTunes store, ninhao is offering users trial ninhao lessons at no added cost. Once downloaded, all lessons can be accessed offline - without needing internet connectivity - allowing for uninterrupted learning. Users will have access to ninhao's extensive library comprised of hundreds of animated video lessons, a holistically-designed curriculum developed by a team of professional Chinese teachers.

Existing ninhao customers who have purchased lessons through our website can now access their lessons on their mobile devices. Like their online counterparts, individual lessons are fully accompanied with English and Chinese audio, written narration as well as lesson exercises designed to maximize the user's learning. The new ninhao app will allow mobile device users to synchronize their complete ninhao learning experience across varied personal interactive platforms. This allows the same Chinese lesson plan to be accessed on both mobile devices and computers for seamless learning.
With the release of this new app, ninhao meets the strict demands of a fast-paced lifestyle by allowing users to fully access these intuitive and easy to follow lessons from the convenience of their personal mobile devices. Through this app, ninhao users will have the freedom to learn Chinese anywhere and anytime.

The "3 E" principle of ninhao - to engage, to educate and to entertain - is designed to be fully compliant with the fast pace and stringent demands of modern life to make learning Chinese easier than ever.
For more information and details about ninhao's Chinese language-learning system, please visit www.ninhao.com. For immediate download, please visit the iTunes store at itunes.apple.com/sg/app/ninhao-learning-chinese-online/id380455158?mt=8

About ninhao:
ninhao® (??! - n?nh?o - the polite way to say "hello" in Chinese) was created to teach Chinese language and culture to a global community of Chinese learners. Our strategic partnerships and alliances including Hanban - Confucius Institute, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of The State Council as well as the Chinese Language and Culture Education Foundation of China. These essential partnerships make it possible for ninhao to provide global learners a comprehensive and affordable eLearning platform. Through our proprietary universal content design, audiences can access Chinese learning anytime and anywhere - online, mobile or thru IP-TV network partners across the globe.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/8/prweb8722138.htm

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/22/prweb8722138.DTL#ixzz1brJ8c7QY

Information and Communication Technologies in School : Handbook for Teacher

From UNESCO

This handbook is designed for teachers and all educators who are currently working with, or who would like to know more about, information and communication technologies in schools. The technologies involve much more than computers, and so the abbreviation we use for information and communication technologies - ICT - is a plural term to denote the whole range of technologies associated with processing information on the one hand and, on the other, with sending and receiving messages.

Download Here >>

Free E-Learning E-Book : Engaging Interaction for E-Learning

By B J Schone

"I hate boring eLearning courses. I get frustrated when I�m not intellectually engaged in a course and when I feel like I�m wasting my time. I know many learners feel this way, too. As an eLearning developer, I�ve had good luck using engaging learning interactions in my courses. These interactions break up the monotony and improve the learning experience for the end-user. After covering new material in a course, a learning interaction (or from here on, simply an interaction) gives the learner a chance to actually do something and (gasp!) apply their knowledge!"

Download Here >>

Free eLearning E-Book : Moodle E-Learning Course Development

By William Rice

This book is a complete guide to successful learning using Moodle, focused on course development and delivery and using the best educational practices. Moodle is relatively easy to install and use, but the real challenge is to develop a learning process that leverages its power and maps effectively onto the content 55established learning situation. This book guides you through meeting that challenge.

Free chapters and free samples available as PDF

Download Here >>

Top 100 Tools for Learning E-Book

From the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

• Top 100 Tools for Learning
  Top 100 Tools list in order of number of mentions down to two mentions

• Top 100 Tools for Learning - by type of tool
  Top 100 Tools categorised according to different categories of tool - both for personal learning and for creating learning for others

• 25 Tools - Key free tools for learning

Download Here >>