Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]. (2019). Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators. Paris, FR: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/f8d7880d-en.

Note: Though the OECD's embedding code generator failed to provide an end iframe component at any of the three sizees available (2019.09.18 [JST]), with a bit of code added, this auto-sized transclusion of OECD (2019) appears to be working in a preview.

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]

Better World Flux (recovered draft, 2012.07.13)

The Better World Flux site provides an interface that creates graphic representations of world population trends in just a few easy steps:

• 0. Reset the display.
• 1. Drag and drop population trend indicators, or combinations of them, that you want to include in the display; 
• 2. Click to add countries whose relative status vis-a-vis those indicators you want to highlight;
• 3. Explore the results: 
• a) either by playing an animation or moving the slider with your cursor to see changes over time, and 
• b) by clicking on colorful data bands to display the names of other countries in the same bands.

The indicators correspond to UN Millennium Development Goals. Clicking on the About tab on the Better World Flux site reveals a Glossary of indicators with cross-links to sources of data, some dating back up to six decades.

For example, the life-expectancy indicator (1960–2010), which when animated looks a bit like a garden slug crawling in general towards a better world, shows:

a. Japan's human life-expectancy rose to the level of those of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, tops in the world in 1972;

b. Japan then became the sole country at the top in 1981, and was joined by Sweden again in 1983; 

c. Switzerland joined those two at the top in 1984, along with a variety of other countries – between 1985 and 1993, including: Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Israel, Macao, Malta, Spain, and the UK;

d. Rwanda became a separate node on the long-tail in the 1990's.

e. Japan topped the list solo again in 1994, rejoined by Hong Kong from 1996 to 1998, and Switzerland in 1999.

f. Italy and Australia were next to regain the top band, in 2000 and 2001, respectively, followed by Canada, joined by Liechtenstein in 2002, and then Iceland and Israel again in 2003.

Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo for pointing out Better World Flux (The Best Resources For Creating Infographics, 2011.01.11), and to Richard Byrne, as well (Better World Flux - Create Animated Data Displays, 2011.02.04).

Sources of info. on social collaboration

In the sidebar, MindStream | FCG MindLink . . . points to a number of sites related to social collaboration:

1. Beagle Research Group, LLC
2. The Social Workplace
3. blogs.technet.com/b/drrez/rss.aspx
4. Jeff Schertz's Blog
5. OpenEnded
6. The BrainYard - RSS
7. www.dowbrook.com/blog/feed
8. Social Business Advisor: Enterprise Collaboration Strategy
9. ITSinsider
10. Andrew McAfee's Blog
11. feeds2.feedburner.com/GilYehuda
12. ZDNet | Enterprise Web 2.0 Blog RSS
13. ZDNet | Collaboration 2.0 Blog RSS
14. The BrainYard - News RSS

'via Blog this'

Google Search for "online teaching"

A Google Search this morning (online teaching), turned up a couple of interesting hits. That is, they were interesting enough for me to review and then tag them in Diigo, a social bookmarking system that I use for micro-blogging instead of Twitter. I've replicated the two tagged entries below.

The first, Starter.co.nz, I thought may be of interest to teachers of young learners, who can browse previews of available resources, and decide whether such a subscription service would be of value to them or their schools. So I posted it to the Classroom 2.0 group, as I was adding it to my list of Educational Technology items.

Home | starters.co.nz

A follow-on to the no longer active http://www.teachingonline.org/ site, "starters.co.nz is a web-based subscription resource for schools featuring over 1600 quality pdf, ready-to-use lesson plans including digital resources such as videos and websites that enhance and add depth to the lessons. / Our lessons are based on and cover all areas of the New Zealand Curriculum and are grouped for Yrs 1–4 and Yrs 4–9+. / starters is particularly useful for printing out easy-to-follow quality lessons for relieving teachers" (deck, 2013.02.03).

more from www.starters.co.nz 

- Not Cached - Edit - Delete -

Share▼ 

- Preview

education lessons New Zealand resources schools starters&strategies subscriptions teachers teaching videos websites

in group: Classroom 2.0

in list: Educational Technology

The second, from the Designing for Learning website, has an intended audience of university faculty members new to online teaching, or interested in imporving their online teaching practices. So I decided to post it to the Moodle4Teachers group, as well as two others to which I belong, and cross-listed in both my Educational Technology and my Faculty Development lists.

Designing for Learning: Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online: Quick Guide for New Online Faculty

On this page, Boettcher explains, "ten best practices for anyone just getting started in the online environment. Research and experience suggest that these practices contribute to an effective, efficient and satisfying teaching and learning experience for both faculty and students" (para. 2, retrieved 2012.02.03 ["Minor revisions May 2011"]).

more from www.designingforlearning.info 

- Cached - Text View - Edit - Delete -

Share▼ 

- Preview

activities communities discussions education feedback faculty groups hints learning online personalization practicessocial presence support teachers teaching universities

in group: LearningwithComputers, Moodle4Teachers, Classroom 2.0

in list: Faculty Development, Educational Technology

When I returned again to the Google Search page, I noticed Google also had spotted "49 [other] items in ... [my] Diigo Library." Please feel free to check them out, too, and if you have any favorites or hot picks of your own, please share them in return.

Networked Student - YouTube (2008.11.26)

Networked Student - YouTube: Uploaded by Wendy Drexler on Nov 26, 2008

"The Networked Student was inspired by CCK08, a Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes during fall 2008. It depicts an actual project completed by Wendy Drexler's high school students." 

(YouTube description, link added)

The Networked Student (Drexler, 2008)

'via Blog this'

Spell with flickr

Thanks to Isabelle Jones for point[ing] this out as a tool capable of supporting "development of both writing and speaking skills" (My Languages, Memory Joggers..., 2012.06.01). Check it out!

Maps (not) showing radiation in Japan

The map found with the first URL below displays "...[r]ealtime radiation data collected via the System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI)[,]" according to a March 19, 2011 01:00 (JST) update in the sidebar, which equates "Under Survey" (調整中) to "censored."

Japan map of Japan Radiation Maximum by Prefecture by Do,Ken,To,Fu - TargetMap 

• http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=4870

Less detail appears on top-level maps prepared by the apparent data source (SPEEDI):

Disaster Prevention and Nuclear Safety Network for Nuclear Environment/ English Top Page

• http://www.bousai.ne.jp/eng/

環境防災Ｎネットホームページ

• http://www.bousai.ne.jp/vis/index.php (Japanese)
• Miyagi: 調整中
• http://www.bousai.ne.jp/vis/jichitai/miyagi/index.html
• Fukushima: 調整中
• http://www.bousai.ne.jp/vis/jichitai/fukushima/index.html
• Ibaraki: http://www.bousai.ne.jp/vis/jichitai/ibaraki/
• Kanagawa: 
• http://www.bousai.ne.jp/vis/jichitai/kanagawa/
• The nearest points to central Tokyo that appear to have data now are to the south, in Kawazaki-ku, south of the Tama River.

Visual Dictionary: Blog this - Blog tools

If you click on a "Blog this" button appearing on a Visual Dictionary Online page, you can get HTML code to represent dictionary illustrations and terminology on blogs and websites, with permission, for non-commercial purposes. Here is an example:



For detailed terms of use, see the Blog Tools page.

Quick Captures from Eduspaces

With free services, I gather it's better not to keep all of your eggs in one basket. Now that I've decided to opt out of forced migration from Eduspaces.net to EducatorsCentral.org (a projected TakingITGlobal service), and thanks to limited investment in Eduspaces over the past couple of years, it has been relatively easy to self-migrate those bits of content and resources that I had concentrated in Eduspaces to other free services, before my Eduspaces account gets deleted:

1. Profile information (c. 2006):
   
• Self-description,
• Interests, and
  
• Skills; and
  
2. RSS feeds (5) to:
• Eduspaces communities (3):
1. Blogs, wikis, and social software for teaching and learning,
2. Communication and Collaboration Online, and
   
3. eportfolios;
• CiteULike: Tag socialsoftware
• Wordpress blog: EdTechPost
  

Proceeding in a small pieces loosely linked fashion, I have updated and relocated the RSS feeds described above. They are now in a temporary PageFlakes page (currently private),

The Eduspaces community links (above), also updated, will probably break down by the second week of March 2008, due to the service migration detailed in a previous post (Any Elgg users out there?, 2008.02.14). The same goes for the hot-linked keywords listed under interests and skills in the profile information that I've cut and pasted in below (Who am I...).

It may be possible to update those links once the actual migration from eduspaces.net to educatorcentral.org occurs, by replacing all of the domain names in the link URLs. However, I plan not to rebuild dozens more links - at least not anytime soon.

Who am I?

An educator and a learner, a parent and a child, a colleague and a friend.

Interests

collaboration, community, culture, development, education, language, learning, moodle, open source, portfolios, reflection, software, teaching, technology, tools

Main Skills

collaboration, communication, facilitation, learning, reflection, teaching

Any Elgg users out there?

If you are contemplating transfer of your blog, communities, discussions, feeds, friends list..., and associated online material to the service provider taking over old Elgg accounts from eduspaces.net, you probably ought to have a long hard think on the part of the new service agreement about publicly accessible content:

... [W]ith respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, you grant TakingITGlobal the following world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license, as applicable:

• With respect to Content (including photos, graphics, audio or video) you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Service, the perpetual, irrevocable and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

TakingITGlobal,
Terms of Service and Privacy Policy,
7. Materials submitted or made available for inclusion on the service,
retrieved February 14, 2008 (bold emphases added)

I gather that you have until February 27, 2008, to state your preference for migration to the new service by filling out a form when you log in to eduspaces.net. After migration to the new service provider scheduled for the second week of March, if you go for it, the domain will become educatorcentral.org (Eduspaces, personal correspondence, February 12, 2008).

When you login to Eduspaces, you immediately get directed to a form requiring a decision. If you don't decide when you log in, you can carry out no activity in your eduspaces account. If you opt not to migrate; you will "get removed" at the time of the migration (misja, Eduspaces account migration, c. February 8, 2008), or have your "account deleted" (Eduspaces account migration [php form]).

Then links to your account and associated content may become obsolete (as, I suppose, may the links in this post). Thank goodness I haven't invested much in Eduspaces.

Publishing directly from Mind42 (beta)

BROG Shirt

BROG Shirt
Originally uploaded by p373.

Interesting list of brog papers to check out here. Thanks to Rick for pointing this out!

That's: http://www.blogninja.com/

Further, More Recent IP Related Resources

An announcement of a live Educause event February 15 reminds me to follow up on some older intellectual property (IP) related resources. Here are a few more gleaned through the announcement - two out of three with a U.S. bent:

Educause. (2007). Federal copyright law [online resource collection]. Retrieved February 7, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=252

Educause. (2007). Scholarly communication [online resource collection]. Retrieved February 7, 2007, from http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=428

Public Knowledge. (2007). Policy blog: intellectual property. Retrieved February 7, 2007, from http://www.publicknowledge.org/articles/49

• "Public Knowledge is a Washington DC based advocacy group working to defend your rights in the emerging digital culture" (Public Knowledge, 2007).
• Gigi Sohn, President & Founder of Public Knowledge, is to be a special guest at that live Educause event: "The Information Commons and the Future of Innovation, Scholarship, and Creativity."

A Broader, Older Swath of IP Resources

If you're interested in exploring intellectual property rights in some breadth, if not depth, below are a few more pointers to round out those in a previous post about Aussie copyright concerns. These are from three collections:

1. A working bibliography on disk (entries lacking annotations, for resources currently accessible):

Downes, Stephen. (2003). Copyright, ethics and theft. Journal of the United States Distance Learning Association 17(2), 51-62. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/ED_APR03.pdf

Downes, Stephen. (2006). A Patent Dilemma. Innovate 3(2). Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=399

Lessig, Lawrence. (2002). Free culture [Flash media recording]. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html

2. Bookmarks on del.icio.us (not necessarily annotated, either):

http://del.icio.us/pab/copyright


3. Another place I'd look, Educause.


If you discover any articles at Educause (or elsewhere) that you find particularly easy to understand and applicable to our work (educational blogging), please don't hesitate to say which and why in a comment related to each.