Blom's Blog

The top 100 tools for learning - 2011

27 May 2011 Barend Blom

Life has happened . . . I have moved into a new role at my school, my family has grown, and I have taken up triathlon . . . as a consequence, blogging about the world of eLearning has been moved to the backburner. However, as we in the North American school system approach our summer holiday, I would like to blog about eLearning again. Perhaps more than just eLearning.

I have been privileged to attend the Vancouver Symposium on Christian Education for the 21st Century. It has rekindled the interest I have in the integration of technology in education, and it has broadened my definition of technology. We live in a drastically different world (as Shaun's PowerPoint shows - check it out on the eLearning home page on this website). How is the Christian school community going to respond? We want to prepare our students to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and world-changers. Is our present educational model achieving that? I plan to blog on that more later.

I came across a really cool link...

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eLearning for young children

03 October 2009 Last Updated on 03 October 2009 BB

I came across a nice review of a few phonics sites. It was published in the Boston Globe.Surfing the Net with kids: Phonics

By Barbara Feldman
October 2, 2009

Phonics is a widely used method of teaching children to read. It is based on connecting sounds of spoken English with the letters that represent those sounds. Today’s websites stand at the intersection of education and recreation, using games to reinforce phonetic concepts.Fun Fonix

www.funfonix.com

With phonics games, phonics worksheets, and reading and spelling games, Fun Fonix is, you guessed it, all about phonics! The activities and printables are organized into an introduction (to hard consonants and short vowels) and three printable books: short vowels, digraphs, and long vowels with a silent “e.’’ The e-books are supplemented with a worksheet maker that includes spelling, reading, word search, phonics mazes, bingo boards, and crossword puzzles.GameGoo: Educational...

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Software to support eLearning: OpenEducationDisc

30 September 2009 Last Updated on 30 September 2009 BB

We live in financially challenging times. Fortunately there are people who don't allow themselves to be put down by the abscence of something as important as money. Today I am thankful for the people of OpenEducationDisc who has scoured the Internet for opensource (i.e. free) software that are of educational value, and then decided to make all of those titles available in the form of one download that you can burn on a DVD-ROM. They just saved me an enormous amount of time!

I have personally tested many of the applications in the list below, and they work just as well as their commercial alternatives. The only requirements are:You must be willing to try new things, and not give up on it if it doesn't work the same way as the commercial alternative.

The OpenEducationDisc is 100% free. There are no strings attached. You can give them a donation if you like the product but, although that would be nice, it is not necessary. Follow these steps to get a copy:You need a Windows...

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