Julia Parra has invited you to join Kiva.org!

Hello!

Hi!

I just made a loan to someone in the developing world using a revolutionary new website called Kiva.

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the business is going. The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Vo Thi Hao in Viet Nam. They still need another $300.00 to complete their loan request of $325.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!). Help me get this business off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Vo Thi Hao too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=29484&_isc=b5e1dc5c-053b-102b-8570-f23b51e27ecd

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping them build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

Julia Parra

---------------------------------------------------------

What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'

-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'

-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'

-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'

-- Entrepreneur Magazine

--------------------
Julia Parra has invited you to join Kiva.org!

If you'd like to join kiva click the link below
https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=register&_isc=b5e1dc5c-053b-102b-8570-f23b51e27ecd

We got our XOs!

Some Holiday Fun

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

Teach Collaborative Revision with Google Docs

Revision is a critical piece of the writing process—and of your classroom curriculum. Now, Google Docs has partnered with Weekly Reader’s Writing for Teens magazine to help you teach it in a meaningful and practical way.

The sharing features of Google Docs enable you and your students to decide exactly who can access and edit documents. You’ll find that Google Docs helps promote group work and peer editing skills, and that it helps to fulfill the stated goal of The National Council of Teachers of English, which espouses writing as a process and encourages multiple revisions and peer editing.

Get the rest of the story including a lesson plan and lots of great resources at:
http://www.google.com/educators/weeklyreader.html

Free online classroom resources

Thank you Susie for this resource!

A very user friendly resource for educators and a little something for everyone! =;->  

Free Web Tools Blog
http://freewebtools.wordpress.com/

Here is a sampling under the Creativity Tools section.
Toondoo- free comic strips and comic books creation tool.
Animoto-free music video creation site for 30 second spots. Then it costs $3.00/video for longer videos/
Flickr-free photo sharing website and online community platform.
Picnik.com-free photo editing online and integrates with Flickr.

Flat Classroom Wiki Project

Thank you Bethany for sharing this cool wiki project 
http://flatclassroomproject2006.wikispaces.com/  
:)
~julz

On-demand webinar: Building better Moodle rooms

Building better Moodle rooms: Online strategies and best practices
Sponsored by: Moodlerooms

Original broadcast date: December 4, 2007
Expiration date: March 3, 2008
Audience link:

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=94646&s=1&k=9B7400E6E6534B9DD4FC267D25E2CF8E&partn
erref=opn24

This event is now available on demand. The archived webinar will be
available for viewing through the expiration date listed above.

To view this Webcast you will need to have Real Player or Windows Media
Player. You may download either of these at
http://webcast.on24.com/clients/help/.

2007 VSS Resources now available

The North American Council for Online Learning is pleased to announce that the 2007 VSS Resources page is now available online at http://www.virtualschoolsymposium.org/resources.php. On this page, you will find links to webcasts, vodcasts, articles, PowerPoint presentations, photos, etc. from many of the presentations offered at last month's Virtual School Symposium.

Don't forget to mark your calendar for next year's VSS: 2008 Virtual School Symposium, October 26-28, 2008 in Phoenix, AZ. It is sure to be even more exciting and innovative than ever!

Video sites make science more accessible

Inspired by YouTube's success, several new science video web sites have sprung up online
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

Haim Weizman is a chemist by trade and an internet movie maker on the side. In his first video, a telegenic narrator in a lab coat swirls a flask as electronic music plays in the background. Created by four science and film students at the University of California, San Diego, the video shows a typical recrystallization experiment straight out of Chemistry 101.

The six-minute epic, complete with bloopers, got 1,205 views on Google Inc.’s YouTube, but the number increased fourfold when the video was posted to SciVee, one of a number of online video-sharing startups designed to let scientists broadcast themselves toiling in the laboratory or delivering lectures.

Read the rest of the story at http://snipurl.com/1uuxi
:)
~julz

OMG, I'm ROTFLMAO!

MIT adapts free online courses for high schools

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a new web site
with free online resources that aim to improve science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction at the high school level.
Check out the article at http://snipurl.com/1ukkz

:)
~julz

Learning 2007

I really wanted to go to Elliot Masie's Learning 2007 Conference, but
here's the next best thing - they are wikifying much of the good
stuff. They have added hours of video and
audio content including keynotes from Dan Pink, Jenny Zhu, Bobby Flay,
Wharton Faculty and Ken Blanchard. Check it out at
http://www.learningwiki.com

:)
~julz

I'm in love...

2 Things 2 Know 2day

ONE – National Distance Learning Week http://ndlw.org starts 2day and NMSU College of Extended Learning is working hard to do its part http://nmsu.pbwiki.com

TWO – The XO Laptop, Give 1 Get 1 started 2day http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php I just bought mine; my son, Jon and I, will be having fun with these over Christmas and two children somewhere in the world will have the opportunity to access knowledge and tools in a way they’ve never had before. Here’s a great vodcast featuring the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) team:

It’s a FABULOUS day! ;) ~julz

XO Laptop - 11/12/07 - 4am MST - I'm VERY excited!

The site - http://www.xogiving.org/index.html

Review written by a tech savvy 12-year old: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1206

An informative Google Talk video

Tell them to go On the Record!

I was enjoying a game to fight hunger at http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Then I went on a journey through the site and eventually ended up at http://www.one.org and signed the petition. I urge you to play the game and sign the petition.

with love,

~julz

-----------------

Hi,

I've just signed a petition to the 2008 presidential candidates asking them to go on the record and tell us exactly where they stand on fighting extreme poverty and global disease.

You can take action on this important cause too by visiting http://www.one.org/ontherecord

Thanks!

Old School

So I love some old school 70's artists like Abba and Neil Diamond. I was watching this SUV commercial and I recognized a Neil Diamond song. Feeling nostalgic and realizing that I had no Neil Diamond in my iTunes, and doing everything but what I'm supposed to be doing - writing dissertation - I started looking to find the best Neil Diamond to download. And, of course, what do you do when you are looking and downloading, don't have anything yet, but want to listen to it right now? Well you go to youtube of course, and I found a gem, something you can only find because of the amazingness of the social web, and here it is, Neil Diamond singing Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show and in the middle, he explains where the song came from, TOO COOL! Enjoy.

National Distance Learning week Nov. 12-16

The NMSU Office of Distance Education and the RETA Project within the College of Extended Learning (CEL) will host webinars, blogs, chats, an online Moodle open house and other events in honor of the 2007 National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) Nov. 12 -16, http://ndlw.org

The NDLW Webinars http://www.ndlw.org/learners.html will be hosted throughout the week from 9 to 10 a.m. and from noon to 1 p.m. in Milton Hall, Room 185, La Academia.

CEL and RETA offerings are viewable BUT still under construction at: http://nmsu.pbwiki.com/

Later in the day (today is Friday, November 9, 2007), we will be extending the invitation to our eLearning friends (RETAzens, OTLOzens, eTeachers, OTLCers, etc.) to join us in a variety of ways. Contributors and attendees will be entered into a drawing at the end of the week.

Online Underwater First! Project SeaCAMEL: Live Broadcasts November 12 - 14

Online Underwater First! Project SeaCAMEL: Live Broadcasts November 12 - 14

Marine Science Classes from the Aquarius Habitat

KEY LARGO, Fla., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Distance learning
goes to the extreme November 12 - 14, when Project SeaCAMEL aquanauts go
live with high tech marine science classes broadcast from Aquarius, the
world's only undersea research station.

Live action coral reef science will be a click away for students and
ocean enthusiasts around the world via satellite and the Internet from
Conch Reef, located 4 miles off Key Largo and 60-feet beneath the sea in
the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The mission is the first in a series of online sea-to-shore educational
programs sponsored by the Maryland-based Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans
Foundation (http://www.seacamel.livingoceansfoundation.org ), a non-profit
organization focusing on ocean research and conservation.

The university-level science experiments using high-tech undersea tools
to collect data will also have broad appeal to younger audiences. Numerous
schools, museums, and aquariums across the country, in Mexico and Great
Britain are expected to participate. A curriculum for 8th-12th-graders is
also available online from project partner Immersion Presents
    (http://www.immersionpresents.org ).

Support for the live broadcasts will be provided by Media Arts, Inc.
(http://www.mediarts.com).

Six live webcasts begin airing Monday, November 12:
http://www.seacamel.livingoceansfoundation.org and http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius.

    Class Schedule:
    Monday 12 Nov, 2-3 PM: Intro to the Aquarius Reef Base

    Monday 12 Nov, 7-8 PM: The Reef at Night

    Tuesday 13 Nov, 11-12 Noon: Reefs under Siege

    Tuesday 13 Nov, 2-3 PM: Sponges: the Reef's Filters

    Wednesday 14 Nov, 11-12 Noon: The Boundary Layers of the Reef

    Wednesday 14 Nov, 2-3 PM: Aquarius as an Artificial Reef

In the "Reefs under Siege" class, students will learn about the basic
biology of corals and the threats reefs are facing worldwide from climate
change and human activities. The aquanauts will assess the reef's health by
measuring the percentage of corals covering the sea floor, and will use
sophisticated equipment to evaluate how corals perform under severe storm
conditions.

During the last broadcast, Michael Crockett, a senior from Gloucester
High School in Gloucester, Va., will play a unique role when he sends
online commands to an underwater robotic fish, Fetch1. This will be the
first-ever attempt to control a free-swimming robotic vehicle over the
Internet.

The Project SeaCAMEL aquanaut team includes: Mark Patterson, Virginia
Institute of Marine Science; Living Oceans Executive Director Philip
Renaud, USN (ret); Chief Project Scientist Annelise Hagan; videographer DJ
Roller and Aquarius crewmembers Craig Cooper and Jim Buckley.

Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and managed by the University of North Carolina,
Wilmington.

    Distribution Details:

    Commodity Internet

    Internet2
    Multicast Address: 233.53.226.224 port 4424
    Satellite 
    Satellite:          AMC-3
    Location:           87 Degrees West
    Receive Polarity:   Vertical
    Receive Frequency:  12,064 MHz
    L-Band:             1,314   MHz
    Symbol Rate:        6.500   MS/s
    FEC:                2/3

English Channel (Service):  34 

Media Contacts: For more information, and to schedule advance and live
underwater interviews with the Aquanauts:
    Terri Taylor
    Project SeaCAMEL
    412-512-9292
    zeolite@verizon.net

    Dr. Ellen Prager
    Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base
    NURC/UNCW
    Ph 305.451.0233 ext 206

    Related Links:
    http://www.vims.edu/events/
    http://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/
    http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/

    Project SeaCAMEL Goes Live November 12-14!
    http://www.seacamel.livingoceansfoundation.org

Let's help change the world, here's one way...

You are receiving this update because I requested a reminder from One Laptop per Child about the limited-time "Give One Get One" program. Starting Monday, November 12 at 6:00am EST, you will be able to donate one XO laptop to a child in the developing world and also receive a laptop for the child in your life, by visiting www.laptopgiving.org or calling toll-free 1-877-70-LAPTOP.

"Give One Get One" is the only time they are making the revolutionary XO laptop available to the public. For a donation of just $399 ($200 of which is tax-deductable), you will be giving the gift of education. Additionally, T-Mobile is offering donors one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States, which can be used from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including the XO laptop.

I will send another update when the program begins on November 12. I hope you'll join the mission to bring education and connection to children in even the most remote regions of the globe.

I'm thinking of doing this myself and sharing a laptop with my teen. The free T-Mobile HotSpot and portable, somewhat indestructible mobile device is totally worth it.

Let's spread the word!
:)
~julz