a teacher's research and experiments with the 'cloud'

Sorry, not the wine, but the ed tech resource called MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). I just joined, and it seems to have an almost overwhelming amount of information.
I watched five short videos on shifting powerpoint presentations (I’m a Mac/Keynote man myself) into active learning. According to the presentation by Paul Baepler, it has been established that most people watching a digital presentation switch off within 12 minutes, so it’s important to get students to do something within that interval. One example he give is “Think / Pair / Share,” in which you think of what you already know about the subject at hand, turn to a partner in the class, and discus your knowledge, and then consider what you and your partner might have to share with the class.
I’m fortunate to only have fourteen students in each of my classes, but if it was bigger class, I might encourage everyone to ‘tweet’ their responses. I’ve heard of very effective uses of Twitter in large lecture classes.

One of the more ‘out there’ ideas I was exposed to at OTC10, was Chris Bell’s talk about the use of Multi User Virtual Environments in Education (MUVE). I’ll file this under, “things I’ll put on the back burner,” especially, since I’ve never been a ‘gamer,’ the appeal of this approach is limited.
On a general note, one of my vows about employing technology in education is to always confirm that the technology is in service of the learning. As I roll out my revised course, I’m going to include a number of surveys to insure the students find the new elements useful.
QuestAtlantis is the one example the speaker has of a MUVE designed solely for education. This is for grades 3 through 8. The Quest Atlantis site contains an intriguing article on the use of “Transformational Games.”

A couple provocative videos related to the need for change in educational systems. The first is titled, “Did You Know (3.0)?,” and presents various facts about the near future of information growth throughout the world.
And the second is a funny, but challenging video, from a student who quit his university, because it was interfering with his education. It is called, “An Open Letter to Educators,” and is another thought provoking item I discovered on Michelle Pacansky-Brock’s blog.

I have used podcasts, blogs, and other ‘cloud’ technologies in my courses in contemporary art and design for a long time, but thanks to a presentation at the EduSoCal10 conference my level of interest has accelerated.

That presentation was the keynote address by Michelle Pacansky-Brock, and was titled “Painting, Power, and Pedagogy – Reframing the Classroom.”

A typical response in discussing online courses, or moving some of the experiences of face to face courses to the ‘cloud,’ is that deplete connections to students, and will be distracting. Even though I am just beginning to rethink my own courses, I can say that many of the possibilities will increase the chance for students to respond and learn in a variety of styles.