Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2016

No.	Phase	Description
1	Technology Trigger	A potential technology breakthrough kicks things off. Early proof-of-concept stories and media interest trigger significant publicity. Often no usable products exist and commercial viability is unproven.
2	Peak of Inflated Expectations	Early publicity produces a number of success stories—often accompanied by scores of failures. Some companies take action; most don’t.
3	Trough of Disillusionment	Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investments continue only if the surviving providers improve their products to the satisfaction of early adopters.
4	Slope of Enlightenment	More instances of how the technology can benefit the enterprise start to crystallize and become more widely understood. Second- and third-generation products appear from technology providers. More enterprises fund pilots; conservative companies remain cautious.
5	Plateau of Productivity	Mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined. The technology’s broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.

Learn How To Code With Star Wars: The Force Awakens Characters by Kaila Hale-Stern

http://gizmodo.com/learn-how-to-code-with-star-wars-the-force-awakens-cha-1741510958

Code.org, a non-profit that seeks to make coding more accessible, has launched a Star Wars-branded kid JavaScript program that stars Rey and BB-8.

The first tutorial covers JavaScript basics and uses drag-and-drop blocks and an interactive interface where you can watch your code selections play out in real time. The BB-8 drone acts out commands, while Rey provides guidance and Star Wars themes play in the background.

As you advance, pop-up video from engineers who worked on The Force Awakens effects explain more about how the wide world of coding works. It’s meant to provide about an hour’s worth of lessons. An additional forthcoming program promises support in languages beside English as well as availability on smartphone and tablet platforms.

Star Wars: Building a Galaxy with Code is recommended for ages 11+ and definitely seems like a fun way to give kids their first taste of coding. Of course, it has no age limitation. If your first foray into JavaScript is motivated by the desire to send BB-8 on a scrap metal collection adventure, I’m right there with you.

[Code.org Star Wars]

Creative Commons Links

TinEye Labs Creative Commons search by color
http://labs.tineye.com/multicolr/

Wikimedia: Creative Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

SoundCloud: Creative Commons
https://soundcloud.com/groups/creative-commons

YouTube: Creative Commons
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797468

Vimeo: Creative Commons
https://vimeo.com/creativecommons

Flickr: Creative Commons
https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Learning Objects Repositories
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Learning_objects_repositories

OERcommons
https://www.oercommons.org/

The Open Directory Project
http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Education/

A guide to free and open source education
http://opensource.com/education/13/4/guide-open-source-education

WikiEducator.org
http://wikieducator.org/Exemplary_Collection_of_Open_eLearning_Content_Repositories

The Ultimate Directory of Free Image Sources
http://www.theedublogger.com/2014/07/09/the-ultimate-directory-of-free-image-sources/

Open Font Library
https://fontlibrary.org/

14 Awesome Open Source Music Sites for Digital Creatives
http://www.webdistortion.com/2009/02/21/11-awesome-open-source-music-sites-for-digital-creatives/

100 Search Engines For Academic Research
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/100-search-engines-for-academic-research/

What’s the Use of a VLE?

http://arrow.dit.ie/ijap/vol4/iss1/10/

K.C. O'Rourke, Dublin Institute of Technology
Pauline Rooney, Dublin Institute of Technology
Frances Boylan, Dublin Institute of Technology


Abstract

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) have become an integral part of the technological furniture of higher education over the past two decades. While some VLE adopters have argued that the enhancement of teaching and learning is a key driver underpinning their use, an increasing number have described typical VLE usage as a “notes-bank approach”. However, while it is widely accepted that they are used primarily as content repositories, the actual value that they add to the teaching and learning process, and ultimately to the student experience, has not been widely questioned. So, in an age of increasing budgetary constraints, combined with the prioritisation of investment in appropriate technologies for higher education, it seems appropriate to scrutinise how the VLE is used and what value it has added. In 2013, at the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), we initiated a study which sought to find out how our academic staff were using the VLE as part of their teaching practice. Additionally, given the proliferation of emerging eLearning tools outside of the VLE, we wanted to find out if academics were aware of such technologies and if, or how, they were using them. Finally in order to inform future practice and strategic planning, we wanted to gain an insight into factors inhibiting or preventing staff from engaging with eLearning technologies. The results are not altogether surprising, indicating high levels of VLE usage among academics, albeit with limited pedagogical innovation underpinning this usage. Findings also demonstrated high levels of interest in, and awareness of, other technologies for teaching and learning: however only a small minority had actually used many of these as part of their academic practice, with high levels of reservation about time and effort involved in utilising such technologies to the full. This paper presents and discusses the key findings of this research and indicates possible ways forward for higher education in the digital age.

MIT: Connecting STEM Topics to Real World

http://tll.mit.edu/help/stem-concept-videos

MIT has gone into the movie-making business to help engineering students understand how the concepts they're learning about in class apply to the real world. The university's Teaching & Learning Laboratory has produced 47 "STEM Concept Videos," all of which have Creative Commons licenses and are freely available on the school's Web site as well as through its OpenCourseWare site.

The videos cover themes in the courses that are part of first- and second-year engineering curricula, such as problem solving, communications, probability and statistics, equilibrium and nine other broad categories.

The Big Mistake in eLearning?

Thanks to Padraig McDonagh for suggesting this video:

Some talking points:

- eLearning spans both training and teaching, and sometimes all the customer wants is information-level training, they need to figure this out with the instructional designers' help.

- oftentimes Instructional Designers are told that something has to be done yesterday, so they fall back on the old favorites

- eLearning development can be any two of the following three criteria, but never the third: GOOD, CHEAP and QUICK. So if you want it GOOD and CHEAP it won't be QUICK. So if you want it GOOD and QUICK it won't be CHEAP. So if you want it CHEAP and QUICK it won't be GOOD

- We need to champion examples of excellent eLearning,and make all managers aware of how excellent eLearning looks so that crappy (manual on a CD) eLearning is no longer acceptable

- This is a knowledge management problem,instead of _asking_ the organisation what they want, we  have_elicit_ their requirements from them using things like repertory grids and triadic elicitation to fully understand their need, and built what they need as opposed to what they want.

15 Free Online Learning Sites Every Entrepreneur Should Visit by Sujan Patel

Thanks to Aleksandra Szczecinska for suggesting this link:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238908

================================================

Being a successful entrepreneur means you have to wear a lot of hats, especially when your company is just starting out and you don’t have enough employees to cover all the areas you need.

Learning the new skills necessary to start a new business can be expensive, but fortunately the initiative for free, high-quality, educational resources online has only continued to grow in the past few years. Below are some of the resources available to learn more about marketing, entrepreneurship, business management and more.

1. CodeAcademy

This great resource offers free interactive programming sessions to help you learn programming languages such as HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP. You can save your progress as you go with a free account. Learning to code can help entrepreneurs fix bugs if they don’t have a developer, or even go down the road of building their own website or products (such as apps).

2. HubSpot Academy 

The free certification program offers courses on inbound marketing, including website optimization, landing pages and lead nurturing. These skills are a must for business owners as they try to grow their business and online presence.

Related: 21 Resources to Make You a Better Entrepreneur

3. Moz

If you want to learn search-engine optimization to make sure your website is as visible as possible, check out this treasure trove of resources from SEO leader, Moz. Besides having the free Moz Academy, there are also webinars (live and recorded), and beginner’s guides to SEO, social media and link building.

4. LearnVest

The most successful entrepreneurs know how to manage their money both on a business and personal side. In addition to having extremely affordable finance classes, LearnVest also offers some of its classes for free, such as “Building Better Money Habits” and “How to Budget.”

5. Niche consultant courses

The Internet has made for a coaching boom, which is extremely helpful to entrepreneurs who want to learn how to start or better a business in a specific niche. Some great coaches and organizations that routinely have free courses and ebooks on building a business include Natalie MacNeil and MyOwnBusiness. Try searching “niche keyword” + “business course” to find one most applicable to you.

6. edX

This free site currently has over 300 courses on a variety of topics, including “Financial Analysis and Decision Making” and “Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer?” These courses not only cover business in general, but can also you help learn more skills that are applicable to your industry, such as big data or environmental conservation.

7. Khan Academy

This free learning resource was created to give everyone access to education in math, science, art, technology and more. There are over 100,000 interactive exercises to put your education to practical use. Even though many of the courses are geared toward high school students, there are several courses that would be good for anyone to have a refresher on, such as taxes and accounting.

8. MIT Open Courseware

These are actual courses taught at MIT and offered for free on the sitefor viewing and reading at your discretion. The school put together anentrepreneurship page that lists available courses that are beneficial to new business owners. Courses include “Early State Capital” and “The Software Business.”

9. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

This university has almost 100 free on-demand college courses that are extremely applicable to entrepreneurs, including ones that cover business planning, operations and management and small-business tax.  

Related: Listen and Learn From These 9 Emerging Entrepreneurial Podcasters

10. Coursera

Much like MIT’s Open Courseware, this site has 114 educational partners that provide free courses to almost 10 million users. One benefit toCoursera is that there are very specific courses that fit perfectly into particular niches, such as “Data Management for Clinical Research” from Vanderbilt University and “Innovation for Entrepreneurs: From Idea to Marketplace” from the University of Maryland. Its wide network of partners allows for a greater selection.

11. OpenCulture

This site isn’t an educational platform on its own, but rather collects and shares free resources from around the web. Its list of 150 free online business courses is a great resource because it offers classes from iTunes U and other lessons on video and audio. The site also has lists of free audiobooks, certificate courses and other online courses.

12. YouTube

It’s probably unsurprising to most users that YouTube is one of the world’s largest search engines, as there are literally videos on just about anything you can imagine. From TED talks to recorded presentations on building a business, it’s a great free resource on just about any topic.

13. Alison

This platform offers free online courses from some of the most well-known names on the internet today, including Google, Microsoft, and Macmillan. With over 4 million users and over 600 courses already, it covers topics such as economic literacy, personal development and business/enterprise skills.

14. Saylor

The Saylor Foundation offers tuition-free courses and also works with accredited colleges and universities to offer affordable credentials. Its course offerings are similar to what you’d see when working toward a bachelor’s degree.

15. Podcasts

Even though it’s not an official course, podcasts are an amazing (and easily digestible) way to become a better entrepreneur. Podcasts can be listened to via streaming on your computer (if that certain podcast offers it) or via iTunes for iOS and apps such as Podcast Republic for Android. Podcasts such as Entrepreneur of Fire already garner thousands of listeners every episode and are a great way to learn the most up-to-date information and strategies possible. Another good list of entrepreneur podcasts include Think Entrepreneurship's.

Whether you learn best by audio, video or text, this list of 15 learning resources for entrepreneurs can help you learn more about building a business, accounting and getting customers.