Diigo bookmarks (weekly)

• Global Competence Through Career and Technical Education | Asia Society

  "Career and technical education (CTE or vocational education) educators now face a critical new imperative: to prepare all students for work and civic roles in a world where success increasingly requires the ability to compete, connect, and cooperate on an international scale. / A new, free professional development course and toolkit, “Global Competence Through Career and Technical Education,” is available to help" (¶¶1-2, 2017.11.29).

  tags: Asia Society careers continuing education CTE education global competence global education international middle schools online courses professional development secondary schools vocational education

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• Different Approaches To Using Student Blogs And Digital Portfolios – The Edublogger

  "This post explores a range of approaches to student blogs and digital portfolios" (Morris, 2017.10.16, ¶4).

  tags: blogfolios blogging commenting portfolios reflection students student-centered teachers wink_students

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• MWIS Newsletter - September 2017: Becoming a materials writer in the digital age

  Recap. of TESOL 2017 session by Linda Butler and Jennifer Lebedev, with links to related articles and publishers' guidelines

  tags: guidelines materials development presentations self-publication TESOL textbooks venues for publication

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From Languishing Dyslexia to Thriving Dyslexia: Developing a New Conceptual Approach to Working with People with Dyslexia

From Languishing Dyslexia to Thriving Dyslexia: Developing a New Conceptual Approach to Working with People with Dyslexia: This is an account of personal narratives shared by several people with dyslexia. Most of these are presented in their original quotation format to provide personal accounts of the lives of people with dyslexia. In this paper the author shares her conversations with her participants. This paper provides an original conceptual model, which is currently been tested empirically. Dyslexia affects the learning process in areas as such reading, and spelling. Conversely abilities or strengths can be seen in other areas, such as developing coping strategies to manage and overcome challenges. This research aims to adapt positive psychology techniques to support individuals with dyslexia. To develop positive psychology interventions, individuals will be helped to discover their five signature strengths. The VIA (Values in Action) Strengths Survey has been hosted in a website which has been developed in the form of a dyslexia user friendly format, such as providing the ability for respondents to change fonts and font sizes, colours and a text to speech option. This paper introduces the theoretical model of ' How to move from Languishing Dyslexia to Thriving Dyslexia'.

Diigo bookmarks (weekly)

• Mastering Markdown · GitHub Guides

  In addition to standard styling syntax (bold, italics, lists, ...), "GitHub.com uses its own version of the Markdown syntax that provides an additional set of useful features, many of which make it easier to work with content on GitHub.com" (GitHub Flavored Markdown, ¶1, 2017.09.12).

  tags: formatting GitHub guides HTML hypertext markdown resources styles syntax text

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• OpenDyslexic | Free, OpenSource Dyslexia Typeface

  WordPress homepage introducing special typeface for readers with dyslexia

  tags: dyslexia fonts free readability resources websites

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A few dyslexia [font-related] resources

For the list on the OpenDyslexic’s Related Research page (https://opendyslexic.org/about-2/related-research/), the ThinkMind URL below might work better for item three (Tablet PCs…):

• http://www.thinkmind.org/index.php?view=article&articleid=achi_2012_2_20_20083

That’s the pointer the first author uses:

• http://www.ub.uio.no/english/about/people/ubodigit/andrega/ 
• See Publications: Gasparini, Andrea, & Culén, Alma (2012).

For item four (Typefaces for Dyslexia), I think OpenDyslexic meant _previously_ "at dyslexic.com/fonts.” The link seemed broken; so here’s a new one:

• http://www.iansyst.co.uk/articles/article/articles/2012/10/18/fonts-for-dyslexia

That article recommended ... a BDA Tech page (https://bdatech.org/what-technology/typefaces-for-dyslexia/), which indicated, “It is likely that line length, line spacing and font size are just as important" as fonts, and referred to Bigelow & Holmes 2014 post reviewing research:

• http://bigelowandholmes.typepad.com/bigelow-holmes/2014/11/typography-dyslexia.html

In 2014, on GitHub, Niclas Darville (ndarville) shared a link to a ready-made Google Scholar search:

• https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=dyslexia%20font

Two of the top three hits from that search today are behind paywalls.

French et al. (2013) may shed light on general benefits from alternative fonts. Rello and Baeze-Yates (2013) found, "Sans serif, monospaced and roman font styles significantly improved the reading performance over serif, proportional and italic fonts" (Abstract). 

A Master's thesis from University of Twente by Leeuw (2010) examined one font in particular, Dyslexie. Leeuw's thesis is accessible on Google Drive.

References

• French, M. M. J., Blood, A., Bright, N. D., Futak, D., Grohmann, M. J., Hasthorpe, A., … Tabor, J. (2013). Changing Fonts in Education: How the Benefits Vary with Ability and Dyslexia. The Journal of Educational Research, 106(4), 301–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2012.736430

• Leeuw, R. de. (2010, December 21). Special font for dyslexia? Retrieved from http://essay.utwente.nl/60474/

• Rello, L., & Baeza-Yates, R. (2013). Good Fonts for Dyslexia. In Proceedings of the 15th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (p. 14:1--14:8). New York, NY, USA: ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2513383.2513447

Alternative webpage readability extensions for Google Chrome

Searching for a replacement for Clearly, which has disappeared from Chrome extensions, I found a pointer to the following GitHub page in a comment on an Apps User Group post: 

• Alternatives for the Clearly readability extension (Eric Curts, 2016.01.21).

• GitHub - ZachSaucier/Just-Read: A customizable read mode extension for Chrome

(Zach Saucier, 2016.10.28)

A few alternatives mentioned either in Curts' blog post and embedded YouTube video about alternatives (Control Alt Achieve, 2016.01.20), or in comments on it, included:

• BeeLine Reader (http://www.beelinereader.com/)
• Featured in Curts' blog post and YouTube video
• https://youtu.be/Q0sLceZAPDY (2016.01.20)
• 3.9 star rating by 150 (Chrome Web Store, 2017.09.06)
• Just Read: 
• Maintained (Unknown, 2016.10.27)
• Mercury Reader (https://mercury.postlight.com/reader/)
• 3.9 star rating by 1426  (Chrome Web Store, 2017.09.06)
• Readability:
• Obsolete (Michael, 2017.03.21)
• Reportedly replaced by Mercury Reader (Anonymous, 2017.05.21)
• The Readability site said, "[C]heck out Mercury Reader" (c. 2016).

At present, Easy Reader:

• 4.7 stars by 472 of 30,587 users (Chrome Web Store, 2017.09.06) 

seems to be right up there with Just Read:

• 4.7 stars by 376 of 72, 480 users (Chrome Web Store, 2017.09.06).

If you favor either Easy Reader or Just Read, please share your rationale(s) in comments on this post.

[205 words]

Diigo bookmarks (weekly)

• Empathy Vs Sympathy | Psychology Today

  Comparison of pity, sympathy, empathy, and compassion in terms of increasing engagement with others

  tags: compassion empathy pity psychology sympathy

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• How many languages are there in the world? | Ethnologue

  "This is a fragile time: Roughly a third of languages are now endangered" (7,099 languages are spoken today, ¶1, 2017.07.25).

  tags: countries Ethnologue languages maps regions world

• The Fracking Boom, a Baby Boom, and the Retreat From Marriage - Freakonomics Freakonomics

  • Even the most persnickety economists will tend to grant that whether there is this geological formation under your county is probably exogenous to family formation preferences.
    • A genuine research opportunity
  • First let me be clear that we are not looking at North Dakota and Montana, in what’s called the Bakken region up there.
  • The data do show that in response to these increased economic activity and earnings potential we do see an increase in births. But interestingly there’s the same response among married births and nonmarried births and no increase in marriage
  • the nonmarital birth response is very different: a 10 percent increase in earnings associated with the coal boom actually led to a reduction in nonmarital births
  • So a coal boom produced more marriage, more kids and fewer kids born to unmarried moms; whereas a fracking boom produced more kids, but no more marriage and a lot more kids born to unmarried moms?
  • Not everyone sees the rise in nonmarital childbearing as a challenge, but if you look at the data on the economic circumstances of kids, it’s hard not to think of that as a challenge.  

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• NCEE | Empowered Educators

  "_Empowered Educators_ is a landmark, international comparative study of teacher and teaching quality in the world’s top-performing education systems" (How are they doing it? ¶2).

  tags: 21st century achievements books briefs comparisons countries education educational systems international policies research resources teachers teaching

• TEACHER VOICE: When it comes to teacher training, the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Canada - The Hechinger Report

  "Preparation for a career shaping the minds, values and spirit of our youth requires people of substance who are attracted to the profession because being an educator is an engaging and secure job choice" (¶17).

  tags: 21st century Alberta Canada curriculum degrees education educators empowerment international qualifications teacher training teachers U.S.

• The Origins of 10 Nicknames | Mental Floss

  Explanations of more or less popular nicknames

  tags: English diminutives history names nicknames phonetics popularity

• Pedagogy and the Logic of Platforms.pdf

  In this article, Gilliard (2017) illuminated redlining, surveillance, and profiling practices that impinge upon educational and empowering uses of the World Wide Web.

  tags: access consent discrimination education empowerment information practices technology WWW

  • Digital redlining is the modern equivalent of this histori-cal form of societal division; it is the creation and maintenance of technological policies, practices, pedagogy, and investment decisions that enforce class boundaries and discriminate against specific groups.
  • Students are often surprised (and even angered) to learn the degree to which they are digitally redlined, surveilled, and profiled on the web and to find out that educational systems are looking to replicate many of those worst practices in the name of “efficiency,” “engagement,” or “improved outcomes.”

• Avoiding Assessment Mistakes — The Learner's Way (Coutts, 2017.07.16)

  "Testing for the skills valued in the 21st century, assessing socio-emotional intelligence and the capacity to function effectively within dynamic teams is difficult to do at scale, so we instead measure what is easy to measure. The trouble is in doing so we assign an inflated value to the parts of the curriculum which matter least and then lock ourselves in to teaching for these skills even when we know they are obsolete" (Assessment needs to be of the learning that matters, ¶1, 2017.07.19).

  tags: 21st century skills assessments education feedback formative assessment learning self-assessments teacher development timeliness

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• Book review: Post-admission Language Assessment of University Students

  "In most cases, results from these types of tests are meant to guide students toward university resources that would help them achieve their potential in their studies and to optimize their employability upon graduation."

  tags: assessments book reviews diagnostic tests language testing languages literacy post-admission proficiency testing

• How to get started with new online ESL students by Kris Jagasia from Off2Class — Online Teacher Summit

  Guest post with tips recycled from "past communication with online ESL teachers" (¶4).

  tags: ESL getting_started how to online Online Teacher Summit teaching

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• Search | LearnEnglish | British Council

  Site search for "environment"

  tags: agriculture animals business charities conservation consumerism ecotourism Eden Project education energy English environment ethics global warming habitats overpopulation resources

• Who We Are | International Rescue Committee (IRC)

  "The International Rescue Committee responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster" (Who We Are, The IRC: 83 years of history, ¶1, 2017.06.21).

  tags: conflict countries disasters education health international organizations non-profit rescue services

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• Professional Identity in an Age of Social Media | Tomorrow's Professor Postings

  "The more you tell your own story on a social media, the more difficult it is for other people to tell a story about you based on the fragments of material they find about you online" (Identity dilemma #1: Your employerm ¶5)

  tags: disclaimers employees employers higher blogging education identities institutions online identities policies social media

• Learn English Directions

  Interactive practice for giving directions

  tags: interactive English tutorials directions

• Diigo outliner supports image now | Diigo

  "This new update allows you to insert images into an outliner directly on Diigo website" (¶1, 2017.05.23).

  tags: Diigo images outliners tools updates

• EST: Emerging issues

  At present (2017.06.01), this page covers three emerging issues: 1) Price volatility, 2) Investments, and 3) Climate change.

  tags: agriculture climate change economics environment food security global issues international investments prices trade United Nations

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• How to get published in English: Advice from the outgoing Editor-in-Chief - ScienceDirect

  tags: academic writing co-authorship ethics guidelines open access peer reviews plagiarism predatory journals publication

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• How To Create Unique Online Programs In 4 Easy Steps by Elena Mutonono — Online Teacher Summit

  Elena Mutonono suggested ways online educators can "find completely new [online] teaching formats" (2017.05.09).

  tags: online online business online education online programs Online Teachers' Summit program development teaching

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• English Writing Tips: Improve your Skills Today - ESL Activities: Saving YOU Time, Guaranteed

  tags: tips writing accuracy skills fluency English

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• OECD: PISA well-being infographics

  Two-part poster of results from PISA survey on students' well-being

  tags: adolescents anxiety assessments countries education health indicators motivation OECD performance PISA surveys relationships results well-being

• PISA 2015 Results (Volume III) - Students' Well-Being - en - OECD

  OECD (2017). PISA 2015 Results (Volume III): Students' Well-Being. Paris, FR: OECD Publishing. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264273856-en

  tags: adolescents anxiety assessments countries education health indicators motivation OECD performance PISA surveys relationships results well-being

• Must Have Tool for Educators- Diigo - A Classroom Friend - EdTechReview™ (ETR)

  tags: Diigo education social bookmarking

• English | GTEC CBT: Outline of [the] GTEC CBT

  tags: academic English communication course of study English entrance exams Japan listening reading speaking tests writing

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• IGI Global: Call for Chapter Details [Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Technology-Enhanced Language Learning]

  "This edited book will try to cover the main issues in language learning and teaching based on technology tools and programs. The publication addresses the application and implementation of research methodologies within English language classrooms in different cultures around the world. The main focus of this book will be on review, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies which meet the needs of applied linguists, CALL/TELL researchers, language teachers, and TEFL/TESOL/Linguistics graduate and post-graduate students. "

  tags: academic writing books calls for papers chapters venues for publication

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Notes on needs and ikigai (生き甲斐)

As studies mentioned in the Criticism section of Maslow's hierarchy of needs suggest, the constructs, comprehensiveness, or fit of levels may vary according to age, broad socio-cultural characteristics, and local or geopolitical circumstances. Nevertheless, conceivable conflation of needs for self-actualization and self-transcendence seem to reflect notions attributed to ikikai (生き甲斐), for example: "the source of value in one's life or the things that make one's life worthwhile" and "mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable" (Ikikai, ¶4 [supporting references absent], 2017.03.11).

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• MERLOT Content Builder

  "The MERLOT Content Builder is a free webpage and website development tool that is integrated into MERLOT. It is directly accessible by logged-in members from the MERLOT home page by clicking the Create Material with Content Builder tile or the Access Content Builder link from a member's profile page, under Actions. All webpages and websites built with Content Builder are hosted by MERLOT" (Help, ¶1).

  tags: education disciplines international libraries materials members MERLOT OERs resources RSS smart searches

• MERLOT II - Search

  "The new MERLOT Smart Search extends access to online learning materials well beyond MERLOT's curated and peer reviewed collection. Smart Search helps to answer the pervasive and nagging question, "Where can I find OERs?'" (MERLOT Webmaster, One Stop Searching for All Your OER Needs!, ¶1, 2017.03.30 [JST]).

  tags: disciplines libraries materials members OERs resources RSS smart searches

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• Welcome to Flexitome

  Flexitome offers: an e-book reader an e-books shop a learning management system a resource library classroom tools authoring tools

  tags: authoring tools classroom tools e-books LMSs resources tools

• Brief interventions help online learners persist with coursework | Stanford News

  "[Psychological] ... interventions had a large effect on the performance of learners in less-developed countries, doubling their persistence and essentially eliminating the global achievement gap" (Psychological interventions, ¶9).

  tags: completion tracking education global achievement gap learning MOOCs motivation online learning research social identity social identity threat

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• Blogger: User Profile: pab

  Blogger profile replaced permanently by Google+ profile

  tags: blogging online identities personal information

  

• The Best Password Managers | The Wirecutter

  "Last updated: December 8, 2016," by Joe Kissell

  tags: computers Kissell Joe password managers passwords reviews tools

• UN Live United Nations Web TV

  Live and on-demand programs

  tags: countries education environment media international issues United Nations webcasts web TV

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• For Some, Active Learning Can Be a Nightmare | Tomorrow's Professor Postings

  "The benefit for the average student is well understood, supported by research, and endorsed by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. However, it can be a nightmare for students with learning disabilities" (Tomorrow's Prof excerpt, ¶2).

  tags: active learning learning disabilities

• Pan-SIG 2017 - ConfTool Pro - Participate

  • Paul A. Beaufait
  • Description     Unit Price  Fee  Conference
     Conference Participation      ¥ 7,000.00
       ¥ 7,000.00
  • Presenters must pay by 10th April to ensure their presentation is on the schedule.

• Megan Phelps-Roper: I grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here's why I left | TED Talk | TED.com

  • People often lament that digital communication makes us less civil, but this is one advantage that online conversations have over in-person ones. We have a buffer of time and space between us and the people whose ideas we find so frustrating. We can use that buffer. Instead of lashing out, we can pause, breathe, change the subject or walk away, and then come back to it when we're ready
  • I know that some might not have the time or the energy or the patience for extensive engagement, but as difficult as it can be, reaching out to someone we disagree with is an option that is available to all of us. And I sincerely believe that we can do hard things, not just for them but for us and our future. Escalating disgust and intractable conflict are not what we want for ourselves, or our country or our next generation
  • we're all just human beings. That we should be guided by that most basic fact, and approach one another with generosity and compassion

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• On-Line Cultural Training Resource For Study Abroad--University of the Pacific

  "This material offers an opportunity to explore various aspects of intercultural communication and adjustment models that are known to impact upon all study abroad experiences. This is not a stand-alone, distance-learning course. Nor should it be a substitute for a University or program-based orientation or reentry program, if your institution has them available" (Introduction, ¶1, c. 2003).

  tags: intercultural communication international studies orientations study abroad reentry programs

• Writing Across Borders - OSU MediaSpace

  "Writing Across Borders is a film for anyone who works with international students in a writing environment" (Details, ¶1, 2017.03.07).

  tags: academic writing cross-cultural communication international students Oregon State University tutoring tutors writing writing centers

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• Driving Campus Diversity One Decision at a Time | Tomorrow's Professor Postings

  "Implicit biases are easily triggered evaluative beliefs or stereotypes that can influence our understanding of others and our behaviors toward them without our full awareness. They are related to, but distinct from, explicit or overt expressions of bias" (What is implicit bias, ¶2).

  tags: aggression biases bigotry confirmation bias diversity higher education implicit bias stereotypes universities

• http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2015/03/31/1353908_1.pdf

  tags: education entrance examinations high schools Japan Ministry of Education universities

• Are you ready for blended learning? | Tony Bates (2016.12.12)

  "I’ve just come back from visiting two universities in central Canada and I have also been getting feedback from pilot institutions on the questionnaire we are developing for a survey of online learning in Canada. Although I do not want to anticipate the results of the survey, some things are already becoming clear, especially about blended learning" (¶1).

  tags: Bates T. blended learning North America universities

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• About Us - oomongzu (Fun & Innovative ESL videos and English videos)

  Plenty of mind-numbing background music, but still worth checking further to see whether these "animated teaching videos for ESL and EFL learners" (About Us, ¶1, 2017.02.24 [JST]) might be suited to particular learners' needs

  tags: EFL English interactive learning learningwithcomputers online learning videos

• Publications

  Catalog of the Council of Europe's Pestalozzi programme publications, currently 1-5 (2017.02.23)

  tags: Council of Europe education international Pestalozzi publications resources

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• What I learned from burning-out as a teacher

  "Teaching communities can be incredibly nurturing, caring and supportive of the children in their care, but sometimes forget to extend this to the teachers who are at the front line. Teachers may be afraid of being seen as weak or struggling if they open up about their challenges or difficulties. My first piece of advice is find a colleague you can open up to and can offer support or just a listening ear, of course, you can do the same for them. Building and nurturing positive relationships is one of the most important things anyone can do for their well-being."

  tags: communities burnout mindfulness positive psychology teacher development teachers

  • Mindfulness refers to the process of bringing our attention and awareness to the present moment, with an attitude of non-judgement and acceptance

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• WS BLOG: Making Moves that Matter | The Writing Studio

  "This post is meant to share some of my more-enlightening misadventures with stasis, destabilization, and resolution in hope that they will help writers, consultants, and teachers use the three moves more intentionally" (¶1, retrieved 2017.01.27).

  tags: academic writing argumentative writing blog coaching consulting

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• Grammar Girl : How to Peer Edit an Essay :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™

  "[T]he following approach can help you prove your editing prowess" (¶3, retrieved 2017.01.20).

  tags: academic writing editing guidelines peer-editing

• APA Style Blog: How to Cite a YouTube Channel

  "A reference to a YouTube *channel* follows the usual who (YouTube username), when (date), what (title), and where (URL) format" (¶1, 2017.01.19 [emphasis added]).

  tags: academic writing APA APA style citations references style

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• Timeline JS3 - Beautifully crafted timelines that are easy, and intuitive to use.

  "TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually rich, interactive timelines. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet" (Timeline JS, Overview, 2017.01/11).

  tags: blog gadgets and widgets javascripts podcasting and digital storytelling timelines tools wink_students

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• David Autor: Why are there still so many jobs? | TED Talk | TED.com

  Good news for techie teachers: "As our tools improve, technology magnifies our leverage and increases the importance of our expertise and our judgment and our creativity" (interactive transcript, 6:00).

  tags: change jobs teaching technology TED Talks

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